LAMPRODERMA 199 



Lamproderma pulchellum Meylan 



Bull. Soc. Vaud. Sc. Nat. 57 : 369. 1932. 



Sporangia sessile, globose, dark violet-blue with few reflections, 0.5- 

 1 mm. in diameter; columella short, sometimes almost lacking, attain- 

 ing at most one-third the height of the sporangium; capillitium densely 

 branched, pale rose; spores brownish purple, minutely papillose, 12- 

 14 jLt. Plasmodium unknown. 



The sporangia appear in characteristic lines on the stems of grasses. 



11. Lamproderma arcyrionema Rost. 



Mon. 208. 1875. 

 PL XIII, Figs. 322, 323. 



1893. Comatricha shimekiana Macbr., Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. Iowa 2 : 380. 



Sporangia gregarious, scattered, globose, silvery gray or bronze, 

 iridescent, erect, stipitate; stipe black, long, two-thirds to three- 

 fourths the total height, slender, rigid; columella slender, cylindric, 

 attaining about one-third the height of the sporangium when it breaks 

 into the primary branches of the capillitium; capillitium exceedingly 

 intricate, made up of slender, flexuous brown threads which frequently 

 branch and anastomose to form an elegant round-meshed network 

 resembling that of Arcyria, free ultimate branchlets not numerous; 

 spores in mass jet-black, by transmitted light violaceous, very faintly 

 warted, 6-8 /jl. 



This species is easily recognizable by its very peculiar capillitium. 

 This, in its primary branching, resembles a comatricha. In typical 

 forms, the columella branches at the apex only, generally into two 

 strong divisions which then break up irregularly and anastomose in ev- 

 ery direction. This seems to have been the form present to Rostafinski 

 when he wrote "columella truncate." In Central American and some 

 North American specimens, the branching is very different; the twigs 

 leave the columella at various points almost down to the annulus, 

 and the entire effect is dendroid. The columella is lost almost at once. 

 A small form of this species was formerly distributed in the United 

 States as Comatricha friesiana Rost. This circumstance led the senior 

 author to describe Central American forms as C. shimekiana. Judg- 

 ing from a remark by Massee (Mon. p. 97), a similar confusion seems 

 to have prevailed in Europe. As a matter of fact, the resemblance be- 

 tween C. friesiana (i. e., C. nigra), and the present species is suffi- 

 ciently remote. 



Lamproderma minutum Rostafinski may be a small form of this 

 species. Rostafinski bases his diagnosis upon the branching of the 



