346 
thp: larger pungt 
573. Fuligo septica Giiielin. (Gr., septikos, decaying). — “Plasmodium yellow, 
rarely white. Aethalia. pulvinate, varying much in size, from 2 mm. to 20 cm. 
broad, yellow. The sporangia constituting tlie aethalium are intrioatelv coiled 
and anastomosing, 2 to 2.5 mm. broad, with air spaces in the intervals which 
permeate the mass; cortex yellow, thick, thin or wanting, when the surface is 
greenish-grey and marked ' with brain-like coils of the perfect sporangia; 
sporangium walls within the aethalium membranous, very fragile, colourless with 
scattered deposits of lime-granules. Columella none. Capillitium scantv or 
abundant, consisting of a loose network of slender hvaline threads more or less 
expanded at the axils, with fusiform or branching yellow lime-knots, varying 
much in size. Spores violet, almost smooth, (i to 8 fi, rarely 8 to 10 p..” — Lister. 
South Australia — On <lead pine stump, Beaumont (more lemon-coloured than 
crocus) ; on dead pine stump, Glen Osmond, National Park, Kuitpo, Myponga. 
Queensland. New South Wales. Flinders Island (Bass Straits). Western Aus- 
tralia. February to May, August, November, December. 
This is the well-known and widely distributed “Flowers of Tan,” so called 
from its frequent occurrence on sj)ent tan in tan-yards. It forms more or less 
disc-shaped brittle and friable masses an inch or more in extent on dead wood, 
leaves, etc., at first yellow, soon fading to whitisli, presenting a vinous-grey 
appearance from the spores when broken in two. The white for-m, var. Candida 
Pr., also occurs with us. 
574. Fuligo cinerea Morg. (L., cinereus, ashy). — “Plasmodium white. Aethalia 
pulvinate, elongate, simple or branched, 4 to (iO mm. long, scattered or gregarious, 
formed of closely interwoven sporangia usually enclosed in a smooth white cortex 
densely chai-ged' with lime, seated on a white hypothallus. Sporangium-walls 
witliin the aethalium more or less perfect, membranous, with deposits of white 
lime-granules. ■ Capillitium consisting of simple or branched liyaline threads, and 
large white lime-knots that may unite to form a i)seudo-columella, or almost 
Badhamia-\\kc. Spores brownish-violet, spinulose, ellipsoid, 13 to 17 x 8 to 12 p, 
or subglobose, 9 to 12 p. On dead leaves, straw, etc.” — Lister. South Australia 
— On the ground, Beaumont. New South Wales. March, April. 
A widely distilbuted usually small, scattered ot gregarious si)ecies. 
FAMILY DIDYMIACEAE. 
‘ ‘ Deposits of lime in the form of crystals or crystalline discs distributed oyer 
the sporangium- wall; capillitium without lime-knots (excejit in Didyrnimn 
anomalum') ; sporangia simple, except in Mncilago when they are combined into 
an aethalium. ’ ’ — Lister. 
DIDYMIUM Schrader. 
(Gr., didymos, double.) 
“Sporangia stalked, sessile or forming plasmodiocarps ; sporangium-wall mem- 
branous or cartilaginous, with superficial crystals of lime either scattered over 
the surface or' combined into a separable ci'ust. Cairillitium of branching 
threads, which are often thickened at intervals with dark calvcifoi'in nodes, in 
normal developments without lime-knots; in I), anmnalum consisting of simple 
tubes containing lime crystals. ’ ’ — Lister. 
575. Didymium nigripe's Fr. (L., niger, black; pes, a foot) near var. xantliopux 
Lister (Gr., xonthos, yellow; pous, a foot). — “Plasmodium grey or colourless. 
Total height 1 to 1.5 mm. Sporangia gregarious, hemispherical, umbilicate 
beneath, stalked, erect, 0.5 to 0.7 mm. diameter, white; sporangium-wall, iiiein- 
brairous, mottled witli brown or colourless, clothed with stellate crystals of lime. 
Stalk cylindrical, two or three times the height of the sporangium, longitudinally 
stri;ite, varving in colour from dai'k oli^'e to orange-brown, translucent, not 
containing refuse matter. Columella subglobose, dark brown, filled with irregular 
angular crvstals of lime. Capillitium of delicate colourless or p)urplish-brown 
branching threads. Spores pale violet-brown, nearly smooth, 8 to II p diameter. 
Var. xanthopus — Stalk orange, columella white.’’ — Lister. South Australia 
Recorded (Lister). New South Wales. Victoria. 
A small orange-stalked species. 
FAMILY STEMONITACEAE. 
“Sporangia stalked; sporangium- wall a delicate memlirane, often evanescent; 
stalk solid, at least in the upper part, extending within the sporangium as a 
columella from which the branching threads of the capillitium take their origin. 
In this family the more or less solid stalk is develo])ed within the young rising 
sporangium. ’ ’ — Ifister. 
