Growing on herbaceous stems sent from Texas. Sporangia about .4 mm. in diameter. The bright bay mass of spores within will serve to distinguish the species. The thin brown wall appears dark bay with the inclosed spores.
3. Licea biforis, Morgan, n. sp. Sporangia regular, compressed, sessile on a narrow base, gregarious; the wall thin, firm, smooth, yellow-brown in color and nearly opaque, with minute scattered granules on the inner surface, at maturity opening along the upper edge into two equal parts, which remain persistent by the base. Spores yellow-brown in mass, globose or oval, even, 9–12 mic. in diameter. [See Plate III, Fig. 1.]
Growing on the inside bark of Liriodendron. Sporangia .25-.40 mm. in length, shaped exactly like a bivalve shell and opening in a similar manner. I have also received specimens of this curious species from Prof. J. Dearness, London, Canada.
4. Licea Pusilla, Schrad. Sporangia regular, sessile, hemispheric, the base depressed, gregarious, chestnut-brown, shining; the wall thin, smooth, dark-colored and nearly opaque, dehiscent at the apex into regular segments. Spores in the mass blackish-brown, globose, even, 16–18 mic. in diameter.
Growing on old wood, Sporangium about 1 mm. in diameter. On account of the color of the spores the genus Protoderma was created for this species by Rostafinski. It is number 2,316 of Schweinitz's N. A. Fungi.
II. TUBULINA. Pers. Sporangia cylindric, or by mutual pressure becoming prismatic, distinct or more or less connate and æthalioid, the apex convex, seated upon a common hypothallus; the wall a thin membrane, minutely granulose, firm and quite persistent, gradually breaking away from the apex downward. Spores abundant, globose, umber or olivaceous.
The sporangia usually stand erect in a single stratum, with their walls separate or grown together: in the more compact æthalioid forms, however, the sporangia, becoming elongated and flexuous, pass upward and outward in various directions, branching and anastomosing freely. [See Plate III, Figs. 2, 3, 4.]
1. Tubulina cylindrica, Bull. Sporangia cylindric, more or less elongated, closely crowded, distinct or connate, pale umber to rusty-brown in color, seated on a well developed hypothallus; the wall thin, firm, with minute veins and granules, semi-opaque, pale umber, often iridescent. Spores in mass pale umber to rusty-brown, globose, most of the surface reticulate, 6–8 mic. in diameter.
Growing on old wood, mosses, etc. Æthalium circular or irregular in shape, from one to several centimeters in extent, the individual sporangia 2–4 mm. in height. Plasmodium at first milky-white, soon changing to bright red, then to umber, becoming paler when mature and dry.
2. Tubulina casparyi, Rost. Sporangia more or less elongated, closely crowded and prismatic, connate, pale umber to brown in color, seated on a conspicuous hypothallus; the wall thin, firm, minutely granulose, semi-opaque, pale umber, iridescent when well matured; all or many of the sporangia traversed by a central columella, from which a few narrow bands of the membrane stretch to the adjacent walls. Spores in the mass pale umber to brown, globose, the surface reticulate, 7–9 mic. in diameter.