126 
ENDOSPOREiE. 
[lamproderma. 
a. genuinum : sporangia stalked. 
y8. sessile : sporangia sessile. 
Plate XL VII., B.— a. sporangia, x i\; I. sporangia, o. genuinum, x 20 ; 
e. columella and capillitium, x 80 ; d. columelliE of various shapes, from 
one group of sporangia, x 20 ; c. sporangia, §. sessile, x 20 ; /. capillitium of 
same, x 80 ; </. spore, x 600 (England). 
The form sessile is represented by five separate gatherings. One from 
the Pyrenees, on Hepaticce, is the type oi Stemonitis iridescens Berk. (K. 
1318) ; the sporangia, now broken, were globose, and either sessile or 
on short stalks ; the capillitium is described by Rostafinski as colourless, 
but in the sporangium examined, the few threads that remain are dark- 
brown ; the columella is absent, but the base of the sporangium is 
thickened by a tissue of interwoven bands ; the spores are purple-grey 
as in the type of L. j^hysaroides. The second gathering is from 
Christiania, named L. columhinum, kindly furnished by Professor Bljiit 
(L:B.M.95); it is on moss in company with the long stalked form of 
L. 2)hysaroides ; the globose sporangia are each seated on a horny base 
of dried plasmodium ; there is no stalk or columella ; the capillitium 
rises from the broad base of the sporangium and resembles that of the 
stalked form ; the spores measure 16 to 19 ; in the accompanying 
stipitate sporangia they measure 12 to 13 /x. Two other gatherings 
are from near Leighton Buzzard, one on fir bark, the other on dead 
leaves ; the sporangia are entirely without stalk or columella ; the 
capillitium rises from the broad membranous base of the colourless 
sporangium-wall, the threads are much branched and colourless at the 
base, dark purple-brown, forked and anastomosing above ; the spores 
are as in the type, 10 n diam. The fifth is a gathering on fir bark by 
Mr. Saunders, at Flitwick, Beds : the sporangia are dull-brown ; the 
sporangium-wall pale amber, subcartilaginous, thickened at the base 
by interwoven folds as in the specimen from the Pyrenees ; the 
capillitium is abundant, of almost simple purple-brown threads, pale at 
the points of attachment to the sporangium- wall ; the spores are of the 
typical colour and I'oughness, 9 to 11 /x diam. The form genuinum of 
this species is very constant in its main characters, yet it is met with in 
the collections almost as frequently under the name of L. columbinum 
as of L. physaroides. It is probable that both names were originally 
given to the same species, and that Albertini and Schweinitz were not 
acquainted with Persoon's type of Physarum columbinum when they 
gave the name of S. j^hysai-oides. The Strassburg collection does not 
here assist us. There are three specimens in that collection marked as 
Rostafinaki's types of L. columbinum ; one is L. 2^hysaroides, one is 
the pale form of L. violaceum, and the third is L. irideum. The type of 
L. physaroides at Strassburg is the species described above in the 
text, and the same as that supplied by de Bary to Professor Bayley 
Balfour under that name ; this nomenclature having become esta- 
blished, L. columbinum is here placed as a synonym tor L. j^hysaroides. 
Hab. On fir-wood, moss, etc.— a. Hanham, Gloucester (B. M. 204,206) ; 
a. /3. Leighton, Beds (L:B.M.95) ; a. Moffat, Scotland (L:B.M.95) ; a. 
France (K. 628) ; a. Germany (B M. 603, 604) ; /3. Pyrenees (K. 1318) ; 
a. and ^. Norway (L:B.M.95) ; a. Mass., U.S.A. (L:B.M.y6). 
2. L. echinulatum Rost., Mon., App., p. 25 (1876). Plas- 
modium ? Total height 2 to 2-5 mm. Sporangia globose, stipitate, 
erect, gregarious, 0-5 to 1 mm. diiim., steel-bine, iridescent ; 
sporangium-wall membranous, somewhat persistent, pui-plish or 
