clastoderma] stemonitaceae 169 



at an altitude between 1,600 and 1,700 m. Stemonitis cribrarioides 

 Ft. is quoted by Prof. Raunkiaer as a possible synonym for the 

 present species, but in the absence of the type this determination 

 must remain conjectural. 



Hab. On Lycopodium and dead twigs. — Graubunden, Switzerland 

 (B.M. slide) ; Lichtenstein, Austria (B.M. 2687). 



Genus 22.— CLASTODERMA Blytt in Bot. Zeit., xxxviii. 

 343 (1880). Sporangia stalked, without lime ; columella 

 very short or hardly evident ; capillitium arising from the 

 apex of the columella as solid lilac or ochraceous threads, 

 repeatedly forking, sparingly anastomosing ; sporangium-wall 

 dividing into subhyaline membranous, rounded or sub- 

 polygonal fragments, attached to one or from two to five of 

 the ultimate branches of the capillitium ; spores pale brown. 

 —ORTHOTRICHIA Wingate in Journ. Myc, ii. 125 (1886). 



1. C. Debaryanum Blytt I.e. Plasmodium ? Total height 



1 to 1*25 mm. Sporangia gregarious, globose, stalked, 0*15 to 



02 mm. diam., brown ; sporangium-wall membranous, 

 persistent only in circular or polygonal plates attached to 

 the ultimate branches of the capillitium. Stalks slender, 

 rugose below, suddenly smooth and filiform in the upper 

 fifth, brown. Columella short, dividing into the primary 

 branches of the capillitium. Capillitium of pale brown threads, 

 forking three or four times, sparingly anastomosing at the 

 surface or free, the ultimate branches attached singly or 

 two or three together tc the membranous plates of the sporan- 

 gium-wall. Spores pale brown, smooth, 7 to 10 jx diam. — 

 Macbr. N. Am. Slime-Moulds, 138. Orthotrichia microcephala 

 Wing. I.e. ; Mass. Mon., 109. 



PL 135. — a. sporangia (Philadelphia) ; b. sporangia after dispersion of spores ; 

 c. capillitium branches ; d. capillitium with expanded membranous plates (Norway) ; 

 e. spore ; /'. sporangium (Norway) ; g. spore (Ceylon). 



This species was discovered by Prof. Blytt in 1879, near Christiania, 

 growing on dead Polyporus. In the United States it has been re- 

 peatedly found, and was described by Mr. Wingate as Orthotrichia micro- 

 cephala. In these gatherings the threads anastomose more freely than 

 in the Norwegian specimen, and the disc-shaped fragments of the 

 sporangium-wall are usually less pronounced ; in some sporangia, 

 however, they agree essentially with the type kindly submitted for 

 examination by Prof. Blytt, and it cannot be doubted that they are 

 the same species. Mr. Fetch describes Clastoderma Debaryanum as 

 being rather common in Ceylon " on rotten wood in up-country jungles," 

 but found also at lower elevations (see Petch in Ann. Perad., iv. 354). 



Hab. On dead wood. — Norway (Christiania Herb.); Sweden 

 (B.M. 2688) ; Austria (B.M. 2689) ; Portugal (B.M. 2690) ; Ceylon 

 (B.M. 2691) ; Borneo (B.M. slide) ; Japan (B.M. 2692) ; Philadelphia 

 (B.M. 874). 



