lamproderma] stemonitacbae 161 



Bowm, I.e., t. 16 ; Berk. & Br. in Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 2, 

 v. 366 ; Rost. Mon., p. 209 ; Mass. Mon., 105 ; Lister Myce- 

 tozoa, 124. E. Berkeleyana Rost. Mon., App. p. 29 (1876) ; 

 Mass. I.e., 106. Ancyrophorus crassipes Raunkiaer in Bot. 

 Tidssk., xvii. 93 (1888) ; Mass. I.e., 107. 



PI. 128. — a. sporangia (England) ; b. sporangia after dispersion of spores, showing 

 the capillitium arising from the apical disc of the columella ; c. sporangium with 

 capillitium arising from the whole length of the columella, found in company with 

 sporangia having normal capillitium ; d. e. spores. 



Occasionally the capillitium threads are much branched and spring 

 from all parts of the columella, which may then terminate below the 

 apex of the sporangium ; this is frequently the case if the sporangia 

 have been slightly injured by being brought indoors in a young and 

 sensitive state ; all conditions between this and the normal form 

 occur in the same group of sporangia. The account and figure of 

 Ancyrophorous crassipes Raunkiaer, well represent this variety. 

 In what remains of the type of E. Berlceleyanum Rost., from South 

 Carolina (K. 1643), no spores of an Enerthenema can be detected ; 

 the specimen is beset with clusters of brown spores or dividing cells of 

 a parasitic fungus. Berkeley and Broome describe this specimen as 

 having the " spores produced in little heads surrounded by a common 

 vesicle at the free apices of the flocci," and of this being " almost the 

 only case in which the spores of a Myxogaster have been observed in 

 situ ; Ptychogaster is the single exception." The sporangia are of the 

 typical form of E. papillatum, and it is probable that the mould was 

 mistaken by Berkeley and Broome for the true spores. 



Hob. On dead wood.— Wanstead, Essex (B.M. 1401) ; Devon 

 (B.M. 1402) ; Portbury, Somerset (B.M. 236) ; North Wales (B.M. 

 2647) ; Edinburgh (K. 1642) ; Ireland (B.M. 2648) ; France (Paris 

 Herb.); Germany (Strassb. Herb.); Denmark (Herb. Raunkiaer); 

 Switzerland (B.M. 2649) ; Portugal (B.M. 2650) ; Japan (B.M. 2651) ; 

 South Carolina (K. 1643) ; Colorado (B.M. 2652). 



Genus 21. — LAMPRODERMA Rostafinski Versuch, 7 

 (1873). Sporangia usually stalked, globose or ellipsoid (some- 

 times forming plasmodiocarps in L. Lycopodii) ; sporangium- 

 wall membranous, somewhat persistent, shining with iridescent 

 colours ; stalk black ; columella cylindrical or clavate, reach- 

 ing to half or more than half the height of the sporangium ; 

 capillitium consisting of branched anastomosing threads, 

 radiating chiefly from the upper part of the columella. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF LAMPRODERMA. 



A. Spores more or less spinulose : — 



a. Spores echinulate, 15 to 20 ^ diam. 1. L. echinulatum 



b. Spores spinulose, or nearly smooth — 



a. The dark flexuose capillitium arising by a few (6 to 9) 

 branches from the apex only of the columella ; spores 

 smooth. 2. L. arcyrionema 



