COLLODERMACE.E 145 



sporangiate; columella typically well developed, rarely 



rudimentary or lacking b 



b. Fructification aethalioid or of separate sporangia; col- 

 umella usually prominent, giving rise to a branched 

 capillitium; in a few forms columella and capillitium 

 poorly defined Stemonitacejs 



b. Sporangia always distinct ; capillitium developed chiefly 



or only from the summit of the columella Lamprodermace,£ 



Family COLLODERMACE^ 



Sporangiate, sessile or stalked, limeless; peridium duplex, the inner 

 wall membranous, the outer, gelatinous when moist, with superficial 

 granular deposits, hard and brittle when dry; capillitium intricate. 



A single genus : 



Colloderma G. Lister 

 Jour. Bot. 48 : 312. 1910. 



With the characters of the family. The one species was originally 

 described by Lippert as a didymium on the basis of calcareous de- 

 posits in the sporangium wall. These have not been observed in 

 numerous later collections. A distinctive genus, well regarded as the 

 type of a separate family. 



A single species: 



Colloderma oculatum (Lipp.) G. List. 



. ^_ . ■— — - j ^ 



Jour. Bot. 48 : 312. 1919. Vj, 



PI. X, Figs. 220, 221, 222. 



1894. Didymium oculatum Lipp., Verh. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien 44 : 72. 



Sporangia gregarious, globose, subglobose or pulvinate, sessile or 

 short-stipitate, olivaceous or brown, becoming black when old and dry, 

 smooth and shining, the outer peridium gelatinous, thickened by mois- 

 ture, hyaline; stipe, when present, thick, dark brown; columella none; 

 capillitium resembling that of Didymium, purplish brown, colorless at 

 the tips, often duplex, the darker interior portion surrounded by a 

 hyaline sheath, the latter usually broken up into segments or frag- 

 mented; spores spinulose, fuscous, 11-13 /j.. 



Swollen by immersion in water the sporangia take on the eye-like 

 appearance which suggested the specific name. 



New Hampshire, Vermont, Oregon; Europe, Australia, Japan. 



