26 THE JOUENAL OF BOTANY 



in the alpine form they are of much sturdier build : they are nearly 

 sessile, subglobose, 1 to 1"3 mm. diam., and either brilliant iridescent 

 blue or glossy bronze in colour. The walls in the iridescent sporangia 

 consist of a pale purplish membrane, entirely free from refuse deposits 

 of any kind ; but in the bronze form the sporangium-walls include 

 much brown granular refuse-matter, distributed fairly evenly or con- 

 centrated to form irregular lumps and patches. It is very discon- 

 certing to have a Jjamproderma behaving in this way. for by thus 

 loading its walls with refuse-matter it bids defiance to our schemes of 

 classification. The short black stalks, columella?, and capillitium are, 

 on the whole, normal. But, amongst the typical globose sporangia, a 

 few ring-shaped plasmodiocarps occur, and in these the columella 

 forms an irregular low ridge and the capillitium consists of a dense 

 network of pale slender threads, branching mostl}'" at right angles, 

 and without conspicuous expansions at the axils. In all the sporangia 

 the dark purplish-brown spores are minutely spinulose and 9 to 

 10 /x diam. The structure of the ring-shaped sporangia recalls 

 var. dehile from Norfolk, and the whole development illustrates the 

 sporting character of the species. 



Before leaving the subject of L. violaceitm, reference may be 

 made to the curious crystalline structures frequently found scattered 

 over the surface of the sporangimn-wall in the typical form. They 

 consist of clusters of slender rods arranged either in parallel clusters 

 or crossing at right angles to form a star : sometimes they spread out 

 like a fan, or are broader and form flat plates. I am much indebted 

 to Mr. A. R. Sanderson and Mr. W. H. Burrell for having tested 

 these bodies chemically. It is found that the}^ contain no trace of 

 calcium or silica ; that they are neither w^axy nor resinous ; on the 

 whole, it seems most probable that they may be some form of 

 crystalloid. 



Form B (fig. 2) from the Whitlingham woods may be now 

 described. The iridescent or glossy blue-black sporangia are clustered 

 on the leaves of box and beech ; they are narrowly obovoid or sub- 

 globose, and either very shortly stalked or sessile; a few scattered 

 sporangia have slender black stalks, 0'2 mm. high ; the spomngium- 

 walls are pale purple and somewhat persistent, the columella is long, 

 slender, and often irregularly expanded above ; the capillitium con- 

 sists of a network of slender fiexuose dark brown threads, radiating 

 from all parts of the columella, and attached by their expanded tips 

 to the sporangium-wall. The spores average 11 /u, but range between 

 10 and 13 ^, or may be even larger. They are purplish-browai and 

 marked with a close and more or less complete reticulation of low 

 ridges. 



A sample of form B was sent to M. Meylan for his opinion. 

 His comment is that it bears the same relation to form A that 

 X. atrosporiim Meylan does to L. Sauteri Rost., and that it is 

 probably a slender form of X. atrosportim *. 



* In a recent communication, M. Meylan suggests that forms A and B are 

 both varieties of L. atroaporvvn. If this view should prove correct, the characters 

 distinguishing L. atrosjiorum from L. violaceicni become rather shadowy. It is 

 to be hoped tliat further gatherings may throw h'ght on this difficult subject. 



