DIDERMA 135 



19. DlDERMA ANTARCTICUM (Speg.) Stwgis 



Mycologia 8 : 37. 1916. 

 (as D. antarctica) 



1887. Licea antarctica Speg., Bot. Acad. Nac. Cienc. Cord. 11 : 56. 



Sporangia crowded, sessile, subglobose, smooth, mottled brown, 

 0.7-1 mm. in diameter; sporangium wall cartilaginous but brittle, 

 cream colored on the inside, the two layers closely adhering and 

 enclosing deposits of white lime granules; columella large, hemispher- 

 ical, cream colored, bearing numerous spine-like processes; capillitium 

 rigid, purplish, with irregular membranous expansions; spores dark 

 purplish brown, with a paler band of dehiscence, closely spinulose, 

 often with dark ridges, 11-12 \x. 



Our only specimens are from Professor Plunkett of the University 

 of California at Los Angeles, determined by Miss Lister. The outer 

 peridium is mottled pinkish buff, crustaceous, and the spores are 

 14-16 ix. They may represent a distinct species. 



Southern California (?), Chile. 



20. DlDERMA IMPERIALE Emoto 



Bot. Mag. Tok. 43 : 172. 1929. 

 (as D. imperialls) 



Sporangia gregarious, hemispherical or appressed, umbilicate below, 

 about 1 mm. in diameter, dusky neutral gray * to olivaceous black *, 

 usually sessile, but often stalked, the total height of the stalked spo- 

 rangia about }■& mm.; sporangium wall simple, clear brown, encrusted 

 with amorphous calcium granules; stalk dark brown, cylindrical or 

 awl-shaped, striate longitudinally, 0.15 mm. tall; columella lacking; 

 capillitium colorless, sparsely branched, very slender, often bearing 

 calcium granules and round, wart-like, refractive enlargements; spores 

 globose, clear violet-brown, warted, 10 fx. 



The simple sporangium wall indicates the subgenus Leangium. 

 The original description states that the capillitium is "about 0.17 /x 

 thick," an obvious error. The illustration shows it to be very delicate, 

 however, and this feature, and the absence of a columella, seem 

 to be the distinctive characters. 



Japan. Known only from a single collection growing on mosses on 

 the trunk of a living Cryptomeria. 



