diachaea] physaracbae 117 



that suggested to Lippert the specific name of oculatum. Some of the 

 capillitium threads in all these gatherings show an unusual structure. 

 They consist of a hyaline sheath enclosing a darker axis ; this sheath 

 may be interrupted to form long or short bead-like segments. Other 

 threads have the usual homogeneous appearance. In Lippert's descrip- 

 tion, mention is made of scattered deposits of minute lime-granules 

 in the sporangium-wall. These are not present in either the Scotch 

 or American specimens. 



Hab. On moss and dead coniferous wood. — Skene, Aberdeen 

 (B.M. 3193) ; Chocorua, New Hampshire (B.M. 3204). 



Genus 13.— PHYSARINA von Hohnel in Sitzungsb. Akad. 

 Wiss. Wien, Math.-nat. KL, cxviii. 431 (1909). Sporangia 

 stalked, echinulate with numerous cylindrical blunt spine- 

 like processes projecting from the surface of the sporangium- 

 wall. Capillitium threads without lime-knots. 



Closely allied to Diderma, from which it differs in the structure of 

 the sporangium-wall. 



1. P. echinocephala von Hohnel I.e., 432, fig. 33. 

 Plasmodium ? Sporangia gregarious, stalked, subglobose, 

 0-4 to 0-5 mm. diam., pale pink or flesh-coloured ; sporangium- 

 wall of two layers, the outer layer somewhat cartilaginous, 

 enclosing lime-granules and produced into numerous (60 to 100) 

 blunt-ended cylindrical processes, 25 to 40 /x wide, and 

 80 fx. long, filled with lime-granules ; the inner layer smooth, 

 membranous, more or less adhering to the outer. Stalk stout, 

 conical, furrowed, flesh-coloured or nearly white, 0*1 to 0-4 mm. 

 high, filled with lime-granules, continued above into a pale 

 subglobose or hemispherical columella. Capillitium-threads 

 violet-brown, paler and branching at the extremities. Spores 

 nearly smooth, brownish- violet, 7 to 9 /a diam. 



PI. 198. — a. sporangia ; b. capillitium and spores, with a fragment of sporangium- 

 wall showing one of the spine-like prominences ; c. spore ; (Java). 



This remarkable species has hitherto been recorded only from Java, 

 where it has been gathered by both Prof. R. Ernst and Prof. F.v. Hohnel. 

 The latter describes the colour of the sporangia as blackish chocolate- 

 brown, but the sporangia received from him, and those of Prof. Ernst's 

 gathering in the Zurich Herbarium, are pale flesh-coloured. 



Hab. On dead leaves.— Java (B.M. 2440). 



Genus 14.— DIACHAEA Fries Syst. Orb. Veg., i. 143 

 (1825). Sporangium- wall hyaline, iridescent, without deposits 

 of lime. Walls of stalk and columella membranous, charged 

 with lime in the form of granules or crystalline nodules, 

 sometimes without lime. Capillitium a profuse network of 

 purplish threads, without lime-knots. 



This genus forms a connecting link between the Calcarineae and the 

 Stemonitaceae. The limeless forms closely resemble some species of 

 Lamproderma, but are distinguished by having the walls of the 

 columella and stalk membranous. 



H 



