142 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



purple and blue, subpersistent, rupturing irregularly. Stipe 

 thick, dull ochre-yellow in color, variable in length, usually 

 very short and sometimes quite obsolete, arising from an ochre- 

 yellow hypothallus ; the columella varying from bluntly-coni- 

 cal to cylindric-clavate, attaining the center of the sporangium. 

 Capillitium of slender, brown threads, radiating from all 

 points of the columella, branching several times and forming 

 a loose network of elongated meshes. Spores globose, 

 minutely warted, violaceous, 11-12 mic. in diameter. See 

 Plate XI, Fig. 36. 



Growing on sticks, leaves, etc. Sporangium .5-. 7 mm. in 

 diameter, the stipe usually shorter or sometimes wanting. 

 This species has been found only in the mountains of North 

 Carolina. I am indebted to Dr. George A. Rex for my 

 example. In its structure the species is essentially a Lam- 

 proderma, but the stipe and columella are stuffed with gran- 

 ules of lime. 



Order VII.— DIDYMIACE.^. 



Sporangia simple and subglobose, or plasmodio- 

 carp, rarely combined into an aethaliiim. Wall of 

 the sporangium a thin membrane with an outer 

 layer composed of minute stellate cr^-stals, or of 

 minute roundish granules of lime ; these either lie 

 singly upon the surface, or are compacted into a 

 crustaceons coat. Stipe present or often wanting; 

 the columella usually conspicuotis and well-devel- 

 oped. Capillitium consisting of very slender, often 

 sinuous threads, which extend from the base of the 

 sporangium or from the columella to the walls, 

 either simple or outwardly branching a few times at 

 a sharp angle, combined into a loose irregular net 

 by a few transverse ])ranchlets, wliich are situated 

 chieflv at the extremities. Spores globose, viola- 

 .ceotis. 



