3. Diachaea subsessilis Pk.
- 1879. Diachaea subsessilis Pk., Rep. N. Y. Mus. Nat. History, XXXI., p. 41.
- 1894. Diachaea subsessilis Pk., Lister, Mycetozoa, p. 92.
Sporangia gregarious or closely crowded, small, about .5 mm., dull iridescent-blue, greenish-gray, etc., globose or depressed-globose, short-stalked or nearly sessile; stipe generally very short, reduced sometimes to a mere persistent cone, white; columella obsolescent or reduced to white conical intrusion of the stipe; capillitium radiating from the stipe, brown, consisting of branching, anastomosing threads, paler at the tips; hypothallus very scanty or none; spores minutely warted, the papillæ arranged in an irregular, loose net-work, violet-brown, paler under the lens, 10–12 µ.
This species is easily recognizable by its diminutive size and generally defective structure; i. e. it has the appearance of a degenerate or depauperate representative of some finer form. Besides the type, yet to be seen in Albany, Dr. Sturgis reports the species from Connecticut and from the Isle of Wight! A small gathering is before me from Colorado. Every sporangium is borne upon a calcareous pedicel, very short indeed, but real. The var. globosa referred to in the English text under D. leucopodia has not appeared so far as reported, on this side the sea, but even such variety could scarcely in the hands of a collector take the place of the form now under consideration.
Specimens of D. subsessilis from Europe correspond remarkably with those described by Drs. Peck and Sturgis. Mr. Lister would have our species a synonym for Lamproderma fuckelianum cracovense (Rost.) Cel.
Rare; from Connecticut to Colorado.
4. Diachæa bulbillosa (Berk. & Br.) List.
- 1873. Didymium bulbillosum Berk. & Br., Jour. Linn. Soc., XIV., p. 84.
- 1898. Diachaea bulbillosa Lister, Jour. Bot., XXXVI., p. 165.
- 1911. Diachaea bulbillosa Lister, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 119.
Sporangia gregarious, globose, small, iridescent purple, stipitate; stipe conical, white, sometimes brown, half-a-mm., half the total height; columella clavate, white or brown; capillitium of purple-brown threads united to form a lax net; spores violet-grey, marked with scattered warts "6–8 in a row across the hemisphere", 7–9 µ.
Java, Berkeley & Broome, op. c. Toronto, Canada; cited here by courtesy of Miss Currie who gives the spores 7.8 µ.