162 ENDOSPOREAE [LAMPRODERMA 



b. Capillitiutn spreading in very numerous branches from 

 the abruptly ending columella — 



Capillitium threads dark, pale at the base. 



3. L. scintillans 



Capillitium purple, with hyaline tips ; stalk usually 

 2 to 3 mm. 4. L. columbinum 



Capillitium pale or brownish-purple ; stalk 1 mm. or 

 less. 5. L. violaceum 



B. Spores reticulated.* 6. L. Lycopodii 



1. L. echinulatum Rost. Mon., App. p. 25 (1876). Plas- 

 modium ? Total height 2 to 4 mm. Sporangia gregarious, 

 globose, stalked, erect, 0-5 to 1 mm. diam., shining with steel- 

 blue or green reflections ; sporangium- wall membranous, 

 persistent, purplish or fuliginous. Stalk subulate or 

 cylindrical, 1 to 2-7 mm. long, black, rising from a well- 

 developed hypothallus. Columella cylindrical, obtuse, about 

 half the height of the sporangium. Capillitium black, pale 

 purplish-brown, or nearly colourless, spreading chiefly from 

 the upper part of the columella, threads stout, sparingly 

 forked and anastomosing, colourless and slender at the 

 tips. Spores dark grey or brownish-purple, echinulate 

 with black spines, 15 to 20 /* diam. — Lister in Journ. 

 Bot., xxix. 261 (1891) ; Mass. Mon., 97. Stemonitis echinulata 

 Berk, in Hooker Fl. Tasm., pt. 2, 268 (1860). Lamproderma 

 Listeri Mass. I.e. (1892). 



PL 134. — a. sporangia (New Zealand) ; b. columella of same ; c. sporangia 

 (Tasmania) ; d. columella and capillitium of same ; e. capillitium threads ; /. g. 

 spores ; h. sporangia (Moffat, Scotland) ; i. columella and capillitium ; k. capillitium- 

 threads. 



In the type specimen from Tasmania many of the stalks are mis- 

 shapen and tumid, and the primary branches of the capillitium are soon 

 lost in a flaccid network of grey threads with broad expansions at the 

 angles ; somewhat similar appearances are met with both in the stalks 

 and capillitium of L. violaceum when matured under unfavourable 

 conditions, and this specimen is probably not well developed; the 

 primary threads in some parts are continuous and branched towards 

 the surface in the manner usual in Lamproderma. A specimen from 

 New Zealand gathered by Colenso (B.M. slide) is mouldy and difficult 

 to examine, but the capillitium forms less of a network, and more 

 nearly approaches the British gatherings, which are perfect 

 developments. 



Hob. On dead wood. — Lyme Regis, Dorset (B.M. slide) ; Derby- 

 shire (B.M. £653) ; Moffat (B.M. slide) ; Ireland (B.M. 2654) ; Tas- 

 mania (K. 1621) ; New Zealand (B.M. slide). 



2. L. arcyrionema Rost. Mon., p. 208 (1875). Plasmodium 

 watery- white. Total height 1 to 2 mm. Sporangia gregarious, 



* See also L. violaceum var. dictyosporum. 



