346 FETCH : 



Chondrioderma lucidum, Cooke. 



A gathering from Talawakelle is doubtfully included under 

 this name. It was found on a moss-covered tree trunk at a 

 height of about 4 feet from the groimd, and consists of only 

 a dozen sporangia. The sporangia are globose , • 6 to • 8 mm. 

 diameter, clustered and sessile, blackish-brown at the base, 

 pale yeUow above, the two colours being sharply defined. The 

 dark part of the wall is membranous and free from Hme, orange 

 when mounted, while the upper dull yellow part is cartila- 

 ginous, charged with minute yellow lime granules. The yeUow 

 sporangium wall is pitted. The columella is subglobose or 

 clavate, pale yeUow, wrinkled, and calcareous throughout, 

 with yellow rods, usually entire, sometimes fusiform, extending 

 from it to the pits of the sporangium wall. The capiUitium 

 consists of dark brown, wavy, coarse threads, with some 

 delicate colourless threads, anastomosing freely and forming 

 netted expansions. The spores are dark purple-brown, closely 

 spinulose, 15 to 17 M diameter. 



In some respects the yeUow hme rods resemble the lime 

 knots of Physarella. It is probably a new species, but as the 

 material is scanty, and in some respects appears abnormal, it 

 appears preferable to leave it under the above name until more 

 is available. Its resemblance to C. lucidum was pointed out by 

 the late Mi\ Lister, who presented me with specimens of the 

 latter which show a similarly pitted wall with pockets or spikes 

 filled with lime projecting inwards from the sporangium waU, 

 though they do not meet the columella as in the Ceylon form. 

 The same specimens show also similar spikes arising from the 

 columella. The Ceylon species resembles C. lucidum in " the 

 laige rough spores, the dark irregular capillitium, and the 

 subglobose , wrinkled columella. ' ' It appears to differ in having 

 lime in the sporangium wall. The above description is 

 compiled chiefly from ]\Ir. Lister's observations. 



Diachaea elegans, Fries. 



Very common at Peradeniya. It is practically the only 

 species which appears after the showers in the dry season, 

 and is the first to appear during the rains. The sporangia are 

 always cylindrical. A group of twenty sporangia grew on the 

 exterior of a flower pot in an insect cage, about 3 feet from 



