4 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



are paler than in the Norwegian gathering, and measure 11 

 to 13 u. In water mountings, when examined under the micro- 

 scope ' with transmitted light, these stalks are seen to have 

 fcranstooeni yellowish-brown walls, and to enclose refuse matter. 

 AVh. mi subjected to moderate heat and pressure, yellow oily- 

 looking drops exude from their upper parts. Similar drops also 



eared when heal and pressure were applied to the "horny 



i" ol l'.lvtt's sporangia. 



For the third gathering we are indebted to Mr. K. Mmakata, 

 who found it on Ando Mountain, in the province of Kii, 

 /In pan, in November, 1910. It consists of about thirty some- 

 what weathered and mouldy sporangia on cylindrical blackish 

 Btalks. Each stalk is surmounted by a thick yellow ring or 

 collar, from whose margin the sporangium-wall arises. The 

 capillitium is attached to the apex of the stalk within the 

 collar. The spores are pale purplish, 10 to 13 /* diam. _ The 

 collars, which are sometimes irregular and incomplete, consist of 

 Hakes and spicules of a wax-like substance that melts into drops 

 on application of heat. By the advice of Prof. Cavers, I treated 

 these drops with tincture of alkannin, a dye that stains wax, but 

 (Incs not affect oil ; from the deep crimson colour that the drops 



Mitly took, it seems clear that they consist of wax. I think it 

 is also most probable that the yellow exudations in the stalks of 

 the Swiss and Norwegian specimens also consist of wax, but the 

 material is too scanty to experiment with. 



Tins remarkable species appears to have no very close allies. 

 Perhaps it most nearly resembles the form of Diachcea subsessilis 



. in which the dark stalk is without lime deposits. It differs 

 from all species of Diachcea in the absence of a columella, and 

 appears so far to be unique among the Mycetozoa in containing 

 deposits of wax in the stalk. 



Explanation of Plates, 



Tab. 524.- Fig. 1. Leptoderma iridescent, a group of sporangia, la. Sporan- 

 gium with b Bhorl stalk; the upper part of the wall has fallen away, exposing 

 the network of capillitium ; the spores are dispersed, lb. Spore, highly 



trifled, le. Capillitium threads from the upper and lower parts of the 



ingiam, and spores ; also a fragment of the sporangium-wall from near the 

 ing deposits of granules and embedded scales of carbonate of lime. 

 2. Did mi. i arboreum. Two sporangia, one discoid, the other forming a winding 

 plasmodiocarp ; the walls of the latter are broken, exposing the columella. 

 2a. Capillitium threads attached above and below to the sporangium-walls, and 

 three -pores. 2b. Spore highly magnified. 



Tab. 525. Diacha a a rifera. 1 . Sporangia, from Japan, showing the collar 

 at the base of the sporangium la. To the right, spicules and flakes of wax from 

 the collar; to the felt, the same Hakes running into globules after application 

 of heat and pressure. L6. Spores from Japanese sporangia. 2. Two sporangia 

 with continent stalks from Norwegian gathering; in the left sporangium the 

 capillitium and spores are to a great extent dispersed, and the broad summit 

 of the stalk is exposed. 2a. Spores from these sporangia. 3. Three sporangia 

 from the Jura Mountains. 3a. Capillitium threads from the same, showing 

 attachment below to the apex of the stalk. 36. Spores from the same.' 



