368 Rev. M. J. Berkeley and Mr. C. E. Broome on British Fungi. 



a cucumber-frame heated with spent hops, Rolleston, Stafford- 

 shire, Mr. Townshend. Found also by Mr. Sowerby. 



Hypothallus white, creeping far and wide, and protruding 

 here and there masses of oblong peridia, which are mostly di- 

 stinct ; assuming gradually a reddish brown tint, and in cases of 

 premature exsiccation becoming black. Spores very abundant, 

 purple-brown, mixed with a few flocci. 



This very curious species, which is analogous to Reticularia 

 maxima, is of extremely rapid growth. When to all appearance 

 completely destroyed, in twelve hours it was again as vigorous as 

 ever, involving everything at first in a slimy and then in a dusty 

 mass. Its mode of growth is that of Licea fragiformis ; the 

 spores however are quite different, and the mucilage never ac- 

 quires the beautiful strawberry tint of that species. An oppor- 

 tunity of inspecting good authentic specimens of the plant of 

 Sowerby cited above, shows that it is identical with our plant, 

 and not with Reticularia maxima, Fr., a species which has how- 

 ever occurred at Apethorpe, and is therefore to be retained in the 

 British Flora. It has smaller, darker and more exactly globose 

 spores, besides possessing the filaments proper to Reticularia. 

 Ignorance of the real structure of Sowerby' s plant at the time 

 the species was published in the Gardeners' Chronicle prevented 

 the adoption of his specific name, which it is now too late to 

 restore. 



393. L. applanata, Berk. Depressa conglomerata ; peridiis 

 brevissimis arete connatis rufis ; sporis magnis. Berk, in Hook. 

 Lond. Journ. vol. iv. p. 67. On dead twigs of currant, &c, 

 Somersetshire, C. E. Broome ; Apethorpe, Norths. 



Forming little, thin, flat, distinct rounded or elongated patches, 

 which are at first scarlet and then liver-brown. Peridia short, 

 densely crowded, invisible to the naked eye. Spores large, broadly 

 elliptic with one or more nuclei, argillaceous, tinged with red, 

 mixed with a few flexuous threads very much larger than in 

 L. fragiformis or L. cylindrica. 



The spores in the Swan River specimens described in Sir W. 

 J. Hooker's Journal are of the same size, but have a more di- 

 stinct border, and occasionally but not always a single nucleus. 

 The Australian specimens, it is to be observed, are scarcely ma- 

 ture, and in consequence the colour of the spores is brighter, 

 though now, after some years' sojourn in the herbarium and after 

 repeated application of turpentine and corrosive sublimate, they 

 can scarcely be called saffron-coloured. These differences are 

 trifling, and arise probably from little peculiarities of condition. 

 We have no doubt of the identity of the British and Australian 

 species. 



394. Phorna asteriscus, n. s. Uniloculare convexum piceum 



