Lycogala. 121 



common cortex cannot in the pfesent instance be considered 

 as excretory, and solely for protective purposes, but must be 

 considered as a living portion of the organism giving origin to 

 the complex capillitium, the tubes of which appear to increase 

 in length by apical growth. The tubes of the capillitium that 

 enter the aethalia collapse before the spores are mature, and 

 consequently exercise no dispersive function. The scheme of 

 classification adopted in the present work, I much regret to 

 say, is founded mostly on characters presented by mature forms, 

 hence the elaborate ornamention of the capillitium tubes places 

 the present genus in the sub-family Calotrichcae ; whereas, if 

 the capillitium is a continuation of the cortex, or rather a 

 development directly from the cortex, Peritrichcae would be its 

 proper position. 



Distrib. Cosmopolitan. Species 6. 



Lycogala epidendrum, Rost. (figs. 121, 122). 



Plasmodiocarp sub-globose, gregarious or rarely solitary, "5 2 

 cm. diameter, surface, minutely warted, variable in colour, rose- 

 red, dingy vermilion, or brownish red; threads of capillitium 

 almost colourless, 8 12 n thick, springing from the cortex, 

 becoming irregularly branched with various free, slightly in- 

 crassated tips, now and then anastomosing laterally, furnished 

 with warts, short bands, irregular rings or spirals, or with the 

 raised bands anastomosing to form an irregular network ; 

 frequently all the above modifications may be seen on the 

 same tube, wall thin and soon collapsing ; spore-mass variable 

 in colour, dingy purple, flesh-colour, greyish-yellow, or some- 

 times with a dingy green tinge, spores globose, minutely but 

 distinctly wartcd, 4 6 n diameter. 



Lycogala epidendrum, Rost., Mon., 85, figs. 1, 7 12; Cke., 

 Myx. Brit., 75, figs. 1, 7 12; Sacc., Syll., vol. vii., pt. I., 

 n. 1484; Raunk, Myx. Dan., p. 62; Zopf, p. 168. 



Lycogala a/ine, Berk, and Br., Ceylon Fung, (type in Herb. 

 Berk., Kew, n. 10702). 



Lycogala atropurpureum, B. and Br., Ceylon Fung., n. 735 

 (type in Herb. Berk, Kew, n. 10703). 



