diderma] physaraceae 115 



discovery in North Carolina, it has been recorded from Iowa, Antigua, 

 and Dominica ; and Mr. Petch has found it several times in Ceylon. 



Hob. On dead leaves, moss, etc. — Ceylon (B.M. 2439) ; North 

 Carolina (B.M. slide) ; Dominica (B.M. 1693). 



17. D. lucidum Berk. & Br. in Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 3, 

 vii. 380, t. xv, a, fig. 9 (1861). Plasmodium orange-yellow. 

 Sporangia scattered, subglobose, flattened beneath, 08 mm. 

 diam., usually stalked, orange or vermilion, glossy, dehiscing 

 irregularly or by four or five lobes that become pale at margins ; 

 outer layer of sporangium- wall translucent orange-yellow, with 

 scanty deposits of lime on the inner side, closely connected 

 with the yellow inner layer. Stalk slender, subulate, brownish- 

 black, 0-2 to 0-5 mm. high. Columella obconic or subglobose, 

 often shortly stalked, rugose, white or cream-coloured, filled 

 with lime-granules. Capillitium forming a scanty and 

 irregular network of stout purple-brown threads, often 

 expanded at the axils. Spores purplish-grey, closely spinulose, 

 13 to 15 /a diam. — Chondrioderma lucidum Cooke Myx. Brit., 

 42 (1877) ; Mass. Mon., 204 ; Lister Mycetozoa, 86, and in 

 Journ. Bot., xxxix. 87. C. Carmichaelianum Mass. Mon., 

 202 (1892), in part. 



PI. 98. — a. sporangia ; b. sporangium broken and showing the columella ; c. capil- 

 litium and spores with fragment of sporangium- wall ; d. spore ; (North Wales). 



In Berkeley's description of this species (l.c.) two localities are given, 

 Trefriw in Carnarvonshire, and Cumberland. Examples of the former 

 gathering are met with in Broome's collection in the British Museum 

 (B.M. 25), under the name of " Diderma lucidum" and in Berkeley's 

 collection at Kew, where it is marked " Diderma Carmichaelianum, 

 ex Herb. Broome " (K. 353). The Cumberland gathering does not 

 appear to be represented in the quoted collections. Since the first 

 gathering in 1860, D. lucidum has been foimd in two other stations 

 in North Wales, once near Dolgelly, and frequently in a ravine near 

 Llanymawddwy, where it has appeared in some abundance for several 

 years in succession on moss on wet rocks. 



A remarkable specimen, apparently nearly allied to D. lucidum, 

 has been gathered by Mr. Petch on bark, at Telawakelee, 

 Ceylon, in August, 1905 (see Petch in Ann. Perad., iv. 346). It 

 consists of about ten clustered and almost sessile sporangia, 0*6 mm. 

 diam. ; when first found they were bright yellow, but on exposure to 

 sunlight they faded to pale yellowish-buff ; their surface is smooth, 

 but pitted with thirty to fifty shallow pits or depressions ; the spor- 

 angium-wall is cartilaginous and contains abundant deposits of yellow 

 lime granules between the outer and inner layers ; beneath each of the 

 above-mentioned pits the wall is produced on the inner side into a stout, 

 pale yellow process filled with lime-granules ; some of these processes are 

 short, others are long and spike-like and either end freely in the cavity 

 of the sporangium or are connected with the columella ; the latter 

 is large, pale yellow, globular or clavate, and rough with spike-like 

 processes containing lime-granules ; a very short black stalk is present 

 in one sporangium ; the capillitium is a scanty network of rather stout 

 purple-brown threads ; the spores are purplish-grey, spinulose, and 



