LACHNOBOLUS 261 



in the form of a network of threads marked with cogs, warts or reticu- 

 lations, attached at numerous points to the sporangial wall, not 

 elastic; spores pallid, pinkish or yellowish. 



Close to Arcyria, of which it was originally designated a "tribe" 

 (Syst. Myc. 3 : 177), but distinguished by its non-elastic capillitium 

 and the more persistent, attached peridium. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF LACHNOBOLUS 



c. Sporangia sessile, crowded or heaped 1. L. congestus 



a. Sporangia stalked, gregarious or scattered b 



b. Yellowish or ashy; stipe about equal to height of sporan- 

 gium; on burs and fallen catkins of Castanea 2. L. globosus 



b. Rosy or copper colored, fading to brownish or ochraceous; 



stipe short, sometimes almost lacking 3. L. occidentalis 



1. Lachnobolus congestus {Somm) List. 



Mycetozoa ed. 2. 246. 1911. 

 PL XVII, Figs. 443, 444, 445. 



1826. Physarum congestum Somm., Fl. Lapp. 241. 



1827. Arcyria circinans Fr., Stirp. Femsj. 83. 



1829. Perichana congesta (Somm.) Fr., Syst. Myc. 3 : 192. 



1833. Licea congesta (Somm.) Walk., Fl. Crypt. Germ. 2 : 345. 



1849. Lachnobolus circinans Fr., Summ. Veg. Scand. 457. 



1873. Lachnobolus sauteri Rost., in Fuckel, Symb. Myc. Nachtr. 76. 



1876. Arcyria congesta (Somm.) Berk. & Br., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. IV. 17 : 140. 



1885. Lachnobolus incarnatus (Alb. & Schw.) Schroet., in Cohn, Krypt. FL 

 Schles. 3 (1) : 110. 



Sporangia globose, sessile, 0.4-0.8 mm. in diameter, pale copper 

 colored, fading to ochraceous; hypothallus absent or present only as 

 a glistening, fugacious membrane over the substratum; peridium 

 irregularly fugacious above, persistent below as a shallow, irregular 

 cup, opalescent, marked with warts and vein-like ridges; capillitium a 

 network of much branched threads, mostly 3-4 /x thick, but in places 

 inflated to 5-6 /x, not elastic or only very slightly so, marked with cogs 

 and faint, irregular reticulations, or merely rugulose, with spines, 

 ochraceous in mass, pallid by transmitted light; spores subglobose or 

 angled by mutual pressure, pale pink or ochraceous in mass, pallid by 

 transmitted light, smooth save for a few scattered warts, 7-8 /x. 



Lachnobolus circinans Fries is described as rusty red, with rust 

 colored spores. In the nearly related genus Arcyria, several reddish 

 species fade readily to ochraceous or brownish, and the color seems 

 scarcely sufficient ground to exclude Fries' collections. 



Rare in North America. Ontario, New York, Iowa, Oregon. Not 

 common in Europe. 



