diachaba] physaraceae 119 



combined in masses by mould ; the lime in the stalk and columella is 

 in the form of crystalline nodules instead of lime granules, but this 

 modification occurs not infrequently in otherwise normal growths 

 of D. leucopoda. The var. globosa is apparently rare ; it has been 

 obtained in New Hampshire, U.S.A., in Chili, Japan and in Java. 



Hob. On dead leaves, sticks, etc. — Wanstead, Essex (B.M. 1318) ; 

 Lyme Regis (B.M. 2442); Stafford (B.M. 2444); near Paris (B.M. 



2445) ; Germany (B.M. 580) ; Poland (Strassb. Herb.) ; Sweden (B.M. 



2446) ; Bohemia (B.M. 584) ; Austria (B.M. 1818) ; Italy (B.M. 1946) ; 

 Portugal (B.M. 2447); Central Africa (B.M. 1163); Nigeria (B.M. 

 2443); Natal (K. 433); S. India (B.M. 590); Ceylon (B.M. 591); 

 Java (Herb. Dr. Jahn, Berlin) ; Melbourne, Australia (B.M. 2449) ; 

 New Zealand (B.M. 2448) ; Japan (B.M. 1999) ; Colorado (B.M. 2450) ; 

 Ohio (B.M. 1319); New Jersey (B.M. 1842); Ontario (B.M. 2452); 

 Cuba (K. 438); Jamaica (Herb. Massee) ; Antigua (B.M. 2451); 

 Ecuador (B.M. 2453) ; Chili (B.M/ 2350) ; Paraguay (Paris Herb.). 



2. D. bulbillosa Lister in litt., ex Penzig Myx. Buit., 47 

 (1898). Plasmodium ? Sporangia gregarious, globose, 

 stalked, 03 to 0-45 mm. diam., shining iridescent purple ; 

 sporangium-wall membranous, colourless. Stalk conical, 

 0*3 to 0-5 mm. high, expanded at the base, either white 

 throughout and filled with lime-granules, or brown and more 

 slender above, and containing lime in the form of crystal- 

 line nodules. Columella clavate, white or brown, containing 

 lime in the form of minute granules or in nodules, or entirely 

 without lime. Capillitium a rather lax network of purple- 

 brown threads, spreading from the columella to the sporan- 

 gium-wall. Spores violet-grey, marked with scattered warts 

 (from six to eight in a row across the hemisphere), 7 to 9 ^ 

 diam. — Lister in Journ. Bot., xxxvi. 165, tab. 386, fig. 10 

 (1898) ; Petch in Ann. Perad., iv. 315, 347. Didymium bulbil- 

 losum Berk. & Br. in Journ. Linn. Soc, xiv. 84 (1873). 

 Diachaea splendens Racib. in Hedw., xxxvii. 54 (non Peck). 

 Diachaeella bulbillosa v. Hohnel in Sitzungsber. k. Akad. 

 Wiss. Wien, Math.-nat. Kl., cxviii. 437, fig. 34 (1909). 



PL 99. — g. spores (Java) ; h. spore, highly magnified. 



This species is closely allied to the globose form of D. leucopoda. 

 but differs in having the spores marked with strong scattered warts. 

 Since the first gathering was made by Thwaites in Ceylon, in 1867, 

 D. bulbillosa has again been found abundantly in that island, by 

 Mr. Petch, on dead leaves. Prof. Penzig records this as being a common 

 species in Java. It has been made the type of a new genus, Diachaeella, 

 by Prof. v. Hohnel on account of the nodular character of the lime in 

 the stalk and columella, but this feature is by no means constant, and 

 may occur also in D. leucopoda and D. subsessilis. 



Hab. On dead leaves, twigs, etc. — Ceylon (B.M. 592) ; Java 

 (B.M. 1707). 



H 2 



