50 MYXOMYCETES. 



58. Lamproderma violacea. (/>.) 



Sporangia lenticular, convex above, lenticular and flattened 

 below, with the stem umbilicate beneath, -^-f mm. high, steel or 

 violet-blue, with a metallic lustre ; stem black, shining, subulate, 

 springing from a common brownish hypothallus, prolonged within 

 the sporangium into a cylindrical columella, truncate at the apex ; 

 threads of the capillitium variously forked directly from the base, 

 combined into a thick net ; capillitium after dispersal of the spores 

 whitish ; height of sporangium with the stem, 1-1^ mm. ; spores 

 bright-violet, delicately spinulose, -0092--01 mm. Rtfki. Mon., 

 204. 



On moss. (Fig. 64.) 



Stemonitis violacea, Fr. S. M.,iii., 162 (1829) ; B. & Br. Ann. N. 

 Hist., No. 387 ; Cooke Hdbk., No. 1162. 



59. Lampzoderma arcyrioides (So mm.) 



Sporangia globose or ellipsoid, elongated, violet or bluish, with 

 a metallic lustre, stipitate ; stern either short, scarcely to be seen, 

 or 1 mm. high, growing on a strongly developed hypothallus, black- 

 brown, shining, penetrating within the sporangium as a columella ; 

 columella almost cylindrical, truncate at the apex (in the globose 

 form), almost imperceptibly narrowed above and extending into the 

 threads of the capillitium (in the elongated-ellipsoidal form) ; 

 capillitium whitish-brown, the threads furcate directly from the 

 base, arcuate, flexuous, combined into a dense intricate net ; spores 

 dull-violet, more or less spinulose, -0125--016 mm. Rtfki. Mon., 

 206. 



On dead leaves, wood, &c. 



Stemonitis arcyrioides, Sonim. Tidsk. (1827) ; Berk. Ann. N. 

 Hist., No. 114; Cooke Hdbk., No. 1163. 

 Stemonitis chalybea, Pers. in litt. 



Stemonitis Carestice, Ces. & Not. (1861) ; Erb. Cr. Ital., 888. 

 Stemonitis Morthieri,Fck\. Exs., No. 1447 (1860). 



var. iridea. Cooke. 



Sporangia globose, steel-blue, iridescent, or with a coppery lustre, 

 stipitate; stem twice as long as the diameter of the sporangium, 

 erect, very dark brown, slightly expanded into the sparse hypo- 

 thallus at the base, penetrating to nearly half the height of the 

 sporangium, truncate at the apex, and there originating the capil- 

 litium ; threads of the capillitium very slender, radiating, furcate, 

 seldom connected laterally with each other, extremities free, wholly 

 violet-brown; spores violet-brown, nearly smooth. -Oil- '012 mm. 

 diani. 



