LAMPRODERMOPSIS 249 



thin, opening above irregularly; capillitium of long, flexuous, coiling, 

 simple or scantily branched solid threads, marked by a row of minute 

 tubercles running around the thread in a long spiral; attachments to 

 peridial wall infrequent; spores yellowish in mass, transparent under 

 the lens, delicately verruculose, 10-12 /x. 



Plasmodiocarpous forms have been described as var. plasmodiocarpa 

 R. E. Fries and var. intermedia Meylan. Inasmuch as all gradations 

 from a nearly globose sporangium to a plasmodiocarp may be found 

 in a single fruiting, these names seem to be superfluous. 



Rarely collected in North America but widely distributed and prob- 

 ably not uncommon: Nova Scotia, New Hampshire, New York, 

 Iowa, Washington, Oregon, California, Chile. Also recorded from 

 Europe, southern Asia and the Philippines. 



3. Lamprodermopsis Meylan 

 Bull. Soc. Vaud. Sc. Nat. 46 : 168. 1910. 



Sporangia sessile or stalked; peridium membranous, persistent, shin- 

 ing with metallic luster; columella lacking; capillitium arising from 

 the base, composed of slender threads which fork and anastomose 

 freely toward the surface, forming a dense net, not attached to the 

 peridium and persisting after the peridium disappears; spores pallid. 



The single species is included by Miss Lister in Dianema. As Meylan 

 points out, the capillitial characters are so distinct as to imply an 

 unwarranted extension of the limits of that genus. In peridial and 

 capillitial characters it resembles Lamproderma and especially Diache- 

 opsis, from which genera it is set off mainly by the pallid spores. 



A single species: 



Lamprodermopsis nivalis Meylan 



Bull. Soc. Vaud. Sc. Nat. 46 : 56. 1910. 

 1925. Dianema nivale (Meyl.) G. List., Mycetozoa ed. 3. 254. 



Sporangia separated, globose, sessile or stalked, 1-1.5 mm. in diam- 

 eter, pale, with metallic luster; peridium thin, membranous, smooth, 

 iridescent, long-persistent at the base; stalk, when present, concolorous, 

 up to 1 mm. in height; columella lacking; capillitium arising from 

 lower fourth of peridium, composed of filaments, more and more 

 branching and anastomosing toward the surface, with numerous free 

 ends; spores pale brownish, almost colorless under the lens, finely 

 papillate, 10-12 fx. 



Swiss Alps. 



