LAMPRODERMA 197 



without, the threads at first pale brown as they leave the columella, 

 becoming paler outward to the colorless tips; spores minutely warted, 

 violaceous gray, 8-11 /x. 



This is our most common species; found on decaying sticks and 

 logs late in the fall. Its pale capillitium will usually distinguish it, 

 especially where the sporangia are empty; then the pallid free extrem- 

 ities of the capillitial branches give to the little spheres under the lens 

 a white or hoary appearance not seen in any other species. 



The Plasmodium is at first almost transparent, then amber-tinted, 

 sending up tiny semi-transparent spheres on shining brownish stalks. 

 As the changes approach maturity, the sporangia become jet-black, 

 and only at last when the spores are ready for dispersal does the 

 peridium assume its rich metallic purple tints. Colonies a meter in 

 length, two or three decimeters in width, are sometimes seen! 



Lamproderma arcyrioides (Somm.) Rost., based on Stemonitis arcy- 

 rioides Somm. (1827), is said to be this species on the basis of a re- 

 examination of Sommerfelt's type material. Fries and Rostafinski 

 regarded them as distinct. The name used here has been generally 

 accepted, and is for the present retained, as suggested in the English 

 monograph. 



Common in the northern hemisphere. Also Tasmania. 



Lamproderma fuscatum Meylan (Bull. Soc. Vaud. Sc. Nat. 57 : 372, 

 1932), reported from Switzerland, seems very close to this species. 

 The description is as follows: Sporangia stalked, globose, 1 mm. in 

 diameter; peridium gray, with bluish or brownish reflections, fragile, 

 breaking up into fragments; stipe shorter than the sporangium; cap- 

 illitium dense, grayish brown; spores dark ferruginous in mass, pale 

 by transmitted light, papillate, 9-11 fx. Plasmodium unknown. 



10. Lamproderma sauteri Rost. 



Mon. 205. 1875. 

 PI. XIII, Figs. 320, 321. 



1892. Lamproderma robusta Ellis & Everh., in Massee, Mon. 99. 



1894. Lamproderma violaceum (Fr.) Rost. var. sauteri List., Mycetozoa 129. 



Sporangia globose or slightly depressed, usually flattened or um- 

 bilicate below, 1-2 mm. in diameter, stipitate, stipe usually short, 

 rarely exceeding the height of the sporangium; peridium membranous, 

 persistent, dark blue, not brilliant; capillitium purplish, coarse, with 

 pale tips, appearing hoary after the spores are shed; spores dark 

 purplish brown, spinulose, 12-15 fx. 



A large, dark species, varying considerably in shape of sporangium 



