CRYPTOGAMIA. FUNGI. Reticularia. 353 
Lyc. fragile. (Dickson.) Parasitical,, mostly sessile, inversely egg- 
shaped, brown : bark shining, brittle : meal black, with soft hairs 
intermixed. 
(Grev, Scot. Crypt. Ill— Sowerhy 136. E.)— Dicks. 3- 5. 
Pear-shaped, about one-tenth of an inch high, and nearly half as much in 
breadth. Stem , when any, membranaceous. It grows in clusters. (In 
the morning like a thick cream in one mass, which soon begins to sepa¬ 
rate. It hardens and forms distinct plants towards evening. Sowerhy. 
Sporules globose, intermixed with filaments, forming a black mass. Grev. 
E.) 
(Fragile Puff-ball. L. fragile. Sowerby. Purt. L. parasiticum, and 
Diderma vernicosum. Pers. Leocarpus vernicosus. Linn. Grev. E.) On 
ling, moss, leaves of ivy, &c. (On living grass, &c. some distance above 
the earth. 
A smaller variety of this plant, stem one-twentieth of an inch in length, 
head not larger than that of a small pin,” was in 1784 communicated to 
the Author from near Leeds, by the Rev. Mr. Wood, and stands described 
as a distinct species. Lyc. parasiticum, in former editions of this work. 
E.) 
RETICULA'RIA. # Soft and gelatinous when young; when 
older firm, friable, tearing open indis¬ 
criminately, and discovering seeds en¬ 
tangled in capillary fibres, reticulated, 
membranes, or leather-like cases. 
Obs. Never subterraneous ; generally growing on other vegetables ; seldom 
with stems; cushion-shaped or globular. Sometimes serpentine in its 
figure. Bulliard. 
Ret. hemisphe'rica. Stem conical, head convex, flat underneath; 
whitish. 
Sowerhy 13 — Bull. 446. 1. 
The size of a large pin’s head; white, opening at the top and then disco¬ 
vering the fibrous matter and seeds of a reddish brown colour. Bulliard 
says the head is divided into cells. 
(Hemispherical Reticularia. E.) On dead leaves, sticks, and on moss, 
in woods and moist places. See Sowerby’s admirable coloured plates of 
English Fungi; but in the text read pi. 13, not pi. 12, as printed by 
mistake. 
Ret. carno'sa. Heads cushion-like, sessile, white, cottony. 
Bull. 424. 1—( Sowerhy 399. 3. E.) 
Nearly egg-shaped, larger than a pea, clustered together; fleshy; harder 
with age, and filled with a black substance marbled with white. Bull. 
(Fleshy Reticularia. E.) Mucor carnosus. Dicks, fasc. iii. 23. On 
decayed wood (thriving grasses, &c. E.) Sept. 
Ret. lycoper'don. Stemless: capsule membranous, somewhat egg- 
shaped, fibrous within. 
* (From the reticulated membranes, or network, in which the seeds are entangled. E.) 
VOL. iv. z 
