Craterium. 265 



appears to me) all shades of intermediate form. From careful 

 observation of sporangia developed from plasmodium, both in 

 the open air and under 'bell-jars, I believe that while varying 

 in form and colour, they belong specifically to one species. The 

 plasmodium appears to be always ultimately, of a more or less 

 orange-yellow, though in some stages it is often dirty brown 

 from the quantity of foreign matter held in suspension. 

 The differences in form and colour of the sporangium are the 

 only characters by which these three species (?) are separated, 

 and these characters vary so much in sporangia rising simul- 

 taneously, and apparently from the same plasmodium, that, I 

 venture to submit, they cannot be considered as specific. 



" In all varieties the wall of the cup consists of two or three 

 layers, the outer smooth, with granules of lime equally dis- 

 tributed throughout its more or less coloured substance, the 

 inner white, and heavily charged with lime, though the lime 

 differs in amount even in sporangia of the same cluster. The 

 lid is deciduous, and usually paler than the cup, and in most 

 instances distinctly marked off from the rim. In abnormal 

 forms, caused by rapid drying, the lid is often sunk below the rim. 



" The capillitium is white, consisting of large knots of lime 

 connected by scanty hyaline threads; these threads are some- 

 times yellow, when the colour extends over the inner wall. 

 A central aggregation of lime knots or columella is sometimes 

 present. Spores smooth, 5 9 ju, bright violet or violet-brown." 



The appearance of the epispore depends on the amount of 

 magnification. I find in Mr. Lister's own specimens that under 

 a power magnifying 1200 diameters the epispore is distinctly 

 warted. 



(Rostafinski's Synonyms.) 

 (Under C. vulgare.) 



Fungoides infundibiliforme, pendulum, pediculo donatum, 



Mich., Nov. PL Gen., p. 205, n. 10, t. 86, f. 13 (1729). 

 Craterium pedunculatum, Trent., I.e., p. 244 (1797).- 

 Craterium vulgare, Ditm., I.e., t. 9; Nees, Syst., f. 120; 

 Chev, Fl. Par., t. 4, f. 26 (1817). 



