DlACHiEA.] 
PHYSARACE^. 
91 
1. Diachgea elegans Fries, I.e. (1825). Plasmodium opaque 
white. Total height 1 to 1 -3 mm. Sporangia cylindrical, obtuse 
or subglobose, stipitate, erect, gregarious, 0-7 mm. high hj 0-25 
mm. broad, deep iridescent blue; sporangium-wall membranous, 
hyahne. Stalk stout, brittle, furrowed, one-third or one-half the 
height of the sporangium, broad at the base, rising from a well 
developed hypothallus, densely charged with round lime-granules 
2 to 4 (U, diam., snow-white. Columella cylindrical, narrowed 
upwards, reaching half-way or nearly ,to the apex of the sporan- 
gium, white, densely charged with lime. Capillitium of profusely 
branched and anastomosing threads connecting the columella 
with the sporangium-wall, dark violet-brown, colourless at^ the 
extremities. Spores dull violet, minutely spinulose, 7 to 9 /a diam. 
— Fr., Syst. Myc, iii., 156; Berk., in Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 
ser. 1, i., p. 257 ; Cooke, Handb., p. 395. Trichia leucopoda Bull., 
Champ., p. 121, t 502, fig. 2. Diachcea leucopoda Rost., Mon., 
p. 190, fig. 178; Cooke, Myx. Brit., p. 44; Mass., Mon., p. 259. 
D. confusa Mass., Mon., p. 259. Didymium hulbillosum Berk. & 
Br., in Linn. Journ., xiv., p. 84. 
Plate XXXVI., A.— a. sporangia, x 20 ; J. capillitium and spdres, x 280; 
c, spore, X 600 (England). 
The type specimen of D. confusa Mass., from Jamaica, does not 
appear to differ from D. elegans ; the spores measure 7 to 8 /x, the 
usual size in that species ; they are free except when combined in 
masses by mould. The type specimen of Didymium hidbillosum Berk. 
& Br., from Ceylon (B. M. 592), is a form of D. elegans with globose 
sporangia ; the lime in the stalk is in the form of angular lumps, while 
the columella is without lime ; the spores are more spinulose than in 
typical D. elegans, but not tuberculated as in D. splendens. 
Hah. On dead leaves. — Wanstead, Essex (L:B.M. 66) ; France (Paris 
Herb.) ; Germany (B. M. 580) ; Poland (Strassb. Herb.) ; Bohemia 
(B. M. 584) ; Natal (K. 433) ; India (B. M. 590) ; Ceylon (B. M. 592) ; 
Ohio (L:B.M.66) ; S. Carolina (B. M. 848) ; Cuba (K. 438) ; Jamaica 
(Herb. Massee) ; Chili (Strassb. Herb.) ; Paraguay (Paris Herb.). 
2. D. splendens Peck, in Rep. N. York Mus. Nat. Hist., xxx., 
p. 50 (1878). Similar to the globose form of D. elegans, except 
that the spores are provided with dark raised bands and 
tubercles. — Mass., Mon., p. 261 ; Macbride, in Bull. Nat. Hist. 
Iowa, ii., p. 143. 
Plate XXXVI., A.— rZ. sporangia, x 20 ; e. capillitium and spores, x 280; 
/. spores, X 600 (United States). 
Hah. On dead leaves.— Massachusetts, U.S.A. (L:B.M.69) : Iowa 
(L:B.M.69). 
3. D. Thomasii Rex, in Proc. Acad. N. Sc. Phil. (1892), p. 329. 
Plasmochum rich yellow. Sporangia globose, shortly stalked or 
sessile, scattered or crowded on a common orange hypothallus, 
0-6 to 0-7 mm. diam., iridescent copper-coloured or violet-blue ; 
sporangium-wall membranous, hyaline. Stalk short, stout, rich 
orange, densely charged with orange lime-granules. Columella 
