166 E^TDOSPOREAE [LAMPRODERM A 



in North Wales ; it is not unfrequently associated with Badhamia 

 rubiginosa var. globosa, and when the sporangia of the latter are almost 

 limeless, they can hardly be distinguished in the field from those of 

 L. columbinum. Fries describes the plasmodium of both Physarum 

 bryophilum and P. columbinum as yellow, and it is possible that 

 his specimens may in part have been the above-mentioned form 

 of B. rubiginosa which has bright lemon-yellow plasmodium. The 

 description and illustration of Stemonitis physaroides Alb. & Schw., 

 with globose shining silvery-grey sporangia and compact globular 

 capillitium, suggest L. arcyrionema rather than the present species, 

 but in the absence of the type this reference is conjectural. The 

 specimen in the Strassburg herbarium of L. physaroides agrees in all 

 respects with the above description of L. columbinum. There are 

 three specimens in that collection marked by Rostafinski L. columbinum ; 

 one is the present species, one is a pale form of L. violaceum, and the 

 third is L. scintillans. 



Hab. On fir wood, moss, etc. — Leighton, Beds (B.M. slide) ; 

 Gloucestershire (B.M. 204) ; Northumberland (B.M. 2660) ; Berwick 

 (K. 1568) ; Cornwall (B.M. 2667) ; North Wales (B.M. 2668) ; Moffat, 

 Scotland (B.M. slide) ; France (K. 628) ; Germany (B.M. 603) ; 

 Sweden (B.M. 2669) ; Norway (B.M. slide) ; Switzerland (B.M. 2670) ; 

 Japan (B.M. 2671); Massachusetts (B.M. 1403); Maine (B.M. 1611); 

 Adirondack Mountains, New York (B.M. 2672) : var. sessile — Leighton, 

 Beds (B.M. 1404); Aberdeen (B.M. 2673); Pyrenees (K. 1318); 

 Portugal (B.M. slide). 



5. L. violaceum Rost. Versuch, 7 (1873). Plasmodium 

 watery- white. Total height 0*6 to 1*5 mm. Sporangia stalked, 

 rarely sessile, subglobose, more or less flattened and umbilicate 

 beneath, or shortly ellipsoid, erect, scattered or aggregated, 

 0*4 to 0*9 mm. diam., shining with iridescent blue, violet or 

 bronze reflections ; sporangium-wall membranous, somewhat 

 persistent, pale violet-brown. Stalk varying from very short to 

 one and a half times the height of the sporangium, black, 

 rising from a red-brown membranous hypothallus. Columella 

 one-third to two-thirds the height of the sporangium, cylin- 

 drical, obtuse, or sometimes narrowing to the apex. Capillitium 

 •of almost colourless or brown threads springing from the 

 upper part of the columella, branching and anastomosing 

 to form a more or less dense network, becoming very slender 

 towards the surface. Spores purplish-grey, minutely spinulose, 

 8 to 10 ju. diam. — Rost. in Fuckel Symb. Fung., Nachtr. 69 ; 

 Mon., p. 204 ; Mass. Mon., 94 ; Macbr. in N. Am. Slime-Moulds, 

 143. Stemonitis violacea Fr. Syst. Myc, iii. 162 (1829). S. 

 urcyrioides Somm. in Mag. Nat., vii. 298 (1827). Lamproderma 

 urcyrioides Rost. Mon., p. 206 ; Blytt in Bidr. K. Norg., Sop. 

 iii. 8 ; Mass. I.e., 102. L. nigrescens Rost. I.e., p. 205 (1875) ? 

 L. leucosporum Rost. Mon., App. p. 26 (1876) ? L. minutum 

 Rost. I.e. ? L. nigrescens Sacc. in Michelia, ii. 262 (1882) {non 

 Rost.). L. Saccardianum Mass. I.e., 101 (1892). Tilmadoche 

 Berkeleyi., Mass. I.e. 332. 



