CHONDRIODERMA. ] 
PHYSARACE^. 
81 
connecting a. genuinwn with j8. deplanatum, x 2 ; e. plasmodiocarp of the 
same gathering, x 20 (Chiselhurst, England, B. M. 27). 
Eostafinski's type specimen of C. niveum in Strassb. Herb., from 
Giromagny, has subglobose, crowded sporangia, with a fragile, egg- 
shell-like outer wall ; the inner wall is membranous, more persistent, 
orange at the base ; the columella is orange, sometimes scarcely deve- 
loped ; the capillitium threads are rigid and warted. The specimen 
in Berkeley's collection from Linlithgow, named by him Diderma 
cyanascens Fr. and by Kostafinski C. niveum (K. 1435), is a plasmodio- 
carp form, with the lower part of the inner wall and base orange, and 
the columella depressed ; it has the same rigid warted threads as in 
the Strassburg type. There is no type specimen from Fries, of 
Diderma deplaiuitum in the Strassburg or British collections, but his 
description (Syst. Myc.,iii., p. 110) applies well to Berkeley's specimen 
named D. deplanatum Fr. from Appin (K. 410), which is accurately 
described in English Flora (I.e.), and is undoubtedly the same species 
as the Linlithgow specimen of C. niveum. The sporangia are branching 
plasmodiocarps, forming, as Berkeley says, " reticulate masses, the 
outer wall thick, white, the inner very thin, hyaline " ; the columella 
is only represented by the thickened orange-brown base of the spor- 
angium ; the capillitium consists of rather delicate purplish branching 
threads, with scattered wart-like thickenings ; the spores measure 9 jx. 
The type of C. lohysaroides Rost., Mon., p. 170 (syn. Diderma dejjla- 
Tuxtum Fr., Chondrioderma deplanatum Rost., Mon., App., p. 17) 
is not represented in the Strassburg or British collections. Diderma 
albescens Phill. closely resembles the Strassburg type of C. niveum 
in its globose, crowded sporangia, with orange-brown inner wall and 
columella ; the capillitium is of rigid warted threads, intermixed with 
others more slender ; the spores are identical with those of Rostafinski's 
type, purple-brown, 9 to 11 /ix diam. ; it is evidently the same species. 
The specimen here figured from Chiselhurst, named D. deplaiiaticm Fr. 
by Broome (B. M. 27), connects all these forms ; its sporangia are 
either globose, or elongated plasmodiocarps, with capillitium exactly 
of the Strassburg type. 
Hah. On dead leaves, sticks, etc. — Chislehurst, Kent (B. M. 27) ; 
Carlisle (L:B.M.58) ; Appin, Scotland (K. 410) ; Linlithgow (K. 1435) ; 
Vosges Mts. (Strassb. Herb.); Christiania (L:B.M.58) ; California 
(L:B.M.58) ; Brit. Columbia (K. 379). 
8. C. Lyallii Mass., Men., p. 201 (1892). Plasmodium? Spor- 
angia subglobose, sessile or shortly stipitate, aggregated, seated 
on a more or less strongly developed white hypothaUus, 1 to 1*5 
mm. diam., nearly smooth, roughened with minute scattered 
prominences ; sporangium-wall of two layers, the outer thick, 
densely charged with lime-granules, separating from the mem- 
branous inner wall, which is firm and usually orange at the base. 
Stalk short, stout, rugose, white or ochraceous. Columella 
cylindrical, or clavate and stipitate, ochraceous, sometimes at- 
taining two-thirds the height of the sporangium. Capillitium of 
rigid dark violet-brown threads, branching and anastomosing, 1*5 
to 2 fx broad. Spores dark violet-brown, spinose, 11 to 15 diam. 
Plate XXXII., k.—a. sporangia, x 20 ; h. capillitium with fraq'ment of 
sporangium-wall and spore?, x 280 ; c. spore, x 600 (Switzerland). 
Hah. On dead grass.— Switzerland (L:B.M.59) ; Oregon Boundary, 
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