NEW MYCETOZOA 3 



ings were puzzling, as the lime deposits were scanty and in the 

 form of irregular granules and scales, showing little of the bead- 

 like granules characteristic of Diderma ; the capillitium also was 

 either scanty or irregularly developed, with many swellings and 

 knob-like projections. 



In Scotland, thanks to the keen sight and perseverance of 

 the Eev. W. Cran, many gatherings have been made in summer 

 and autumn in the last three years on the living trunks of elder, 

 sycamore, &c, both at Ehynie and Skene, Aberdeenshire. The 

 sporangia are usually very inconspicuous objects, scattered amongst 

 moss-tufts four or five feet from the ground on exposed trees. 

 Although they vary much in size, shape, and the abundance of 

 lime deposits, these numerous gatherings satisfactorily establish 

 the constancy of the chief characters of the species. 



Diaehaea cerifera, sp. n. Plasmodium colourless. Sporangia 

 scattered or in small clusters of two or three, stalked, subglobose 

 or ellipsoid, 07 to 1*2 mm. diam., brownish-purple, shining with 

 iridescent reflections ; sporangium-wall somewhat persistent, 

 membranous, hyaline or with a yellowish tinge at the base. Stalk 

 brownish -black and furrowed, yellowish-brown or nearly white, 

 0-2 to 0*6 mm. high, 045 to 0-5 mm. thick ; when black it may 

 be provided at the apex with a thick yellow collar on which the 

 sporangium rests. Columella none, or represented by the flattened 

 summit of the stalk. Capillitium consisting of rigid, nearly black 

 threads, pale at the extremities, 1*5 to 3 [i diam., more or less 

 branched and anastomosing, radiating from the apex of the stalk. 

 Spores purplish-grey, pale or dark, minutely spinulose, 10 to 

 18 /m diam. 



Habitat. On moss and liverworts on dead wood. Norway, 

 Jura Mountains, Japan. 



We have three gatherings of this species. It was found 

 first by the late Prof. Axel Blytt near Christiania, Norway, in 

 September, 1879. A small specimen was sent to my father for 

 determination. The nearly sessile sporangia were associated with 

 those of Lamproderma columbinum Eost., and in the British 

 Museum Catalogue the gathering is referred to as a sessile form of 

 that species. It is described there in the following terms : " The 

 globose sporangia are each seated on a yellowish horny cushion 

 of dried plasmodium ; there is no stalk or columella : the capilli- 

 tium rises from the iDroad base of the sporangium, and is more 

 rigid than in the stalked form of L. columbinum; the spores 

 measure 16 to 19 /*." (The capillitium is illustrated in Brit. Mus. 

 Cat. ed. 2, by fig. 131 i.) 



The second gathering was made by M. Oh. Meylan on the 

 Chasseron, in the Jura Mountains, at an altitude of over 

 4000 ft., in July, 1910. He kindly sent me a group of five 

 or six sporangia. They are subglobose or ellipsoid in shape, 

 on stout brownish-black glossy stalks. M. Meylan writes that 

 the plasmodium was white, and the stalks when first formed 

 were yellow, becoming brown on drying; and that they were 

 still pale when the sporangia had turned black. The spores 



d 2 



