Lamproderma. 101 



variously coloured metallic tints ; stem slender, attenuated up- 

 wards, longitudinally wrinkled below, purple-black; columella 

 cylindrical, more or less attenuated at the apex, about half the 

 height of the sporangium ; capillitium pale, primary branches 

 short, but distinct, thick, soon branching and dichotomosing in 

 an irregular manner, combined by transverse branches to form 

 an irregular network with numerous free, thin tips; spores 

 globose, pale violet, minutely warted, 12 16 //. diameter. 



Lamproderma columbinum, Host., Mon., p. 203, f. 61 ; Cke., 

 Myx. Brit., f. 61 ; Sacc., Syll., n. 1345. 



Lamproderma iridcscens, Host., Mon., App., p. 25 ; Sacc., Syll., 

 n. 1346. 



Physarum iridescens, Berk., Hook. Journ., 1851, p. 20. 



Exsicc Rab., Fung. Eur., 2213; Roum., Fung. Gall. Exs., 

 n. 1685., 



On moss, wood, &c. Britain (Orton Wood, Leicester ; Rudloe, 

 Twycross, Carlisle) ; Europe ; United States. 



From 2 3 mm. high, sometimes sessile and even aethalioid ; 

 distinguished by the very short, stout, primary branches of the 

 capillitium, the smaller branches are sometimes nodulose at 

 intervals. 



(Rostafinski's Synonyms.) 



Mucor violaceus, Leess., Fl. Herb., n. 1128 (1775). 



Trichia violacea, Hoffm., Veg. Cr., p. 5, t. 2. f. 1 (1790). 



Physarum columbinum, Pers., Syst., p. 173 (1801). 



Trichia columbina, Poir., Encycl., no. 17 (1808). 



Physarum salicinum, Schum., Fl. Saell, n. 1431 (1803). 



Physarum bryophilum, Fr., S. M., iii., p. 135 (1829). 



Physarum Iryophilum, /3 melanocephalum, Cda., Ic. 1, p. 22, 

 t.,4, f. 287 (1837). 



Lamproderma Saccardianum, Mass. 



Broadly gregarious, altogether blackish, sporangia perfectly 

 spherical, not umbilicate, \ mm. broad, at first yellowish then 

 opaqiLC black, smooth, persistent, erect; stem filiform, \ mm. 

 high, 40 ju, thick, black; hypothallus (when evident) distinct, 

 minute, rufescent; columella terete, half the height of the 



