Sporangia gregarious, globose, large, stipitate, iridescent-gray; the peridium thin, translucent, and containing but little calcareous deposits, smooth or slightly rugulose; stipe very short, but generally distinct, black or very dark brown; hypothallus none; capillitium a network of large meshes with expanded nodes, prominent, white, persistent after the spores have been blown away; spore-mass deep brown; spores adherent as in B. capsulifera, marked in much the same way, and about the same size, 10–12.5 µ

Distinguished by its short, dark, stipe and adherent spores.

Not common. New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Iowa.

15. Badhamia lilacina (Fries) Rost.

Sporangia globose, sub-globose, or obconical, sessile, gregarious or more or less clustered, supported by a thin, continuous, transparent hypothallus; the peridium smooth pale, lilac-brown without, white within; stipe none, although some sporangia have a narrowed base; columella none, the pseudo-columella formed by a more densely aggregated capillitium near the base; capillitium dense, white, strongly nodulose; spore-mass black; spores dark, violaceous-brown by transmitted light, distinctly warted, or reticulate, the reticulations resembling somewhat those of some of the trichias, as T. affinis, 10–15 µ.

Easily recognizable, generally at sight, by its peculiar color. White forms, however, occur; often lilac-tinted and white from the same plasmodium. A perfectly white colony seems to be rare. Both colors are shown in specimens distributed. N. A. F., 2494.

Common eastward, Ontario, New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio, etc. Not reported west of the Mississippi River.

Whatever the color, the spores are in every case positively diagnostic. The episporic markings are unlike those of any other species in the present order. Dr. Rex describes some New York forms as provided with a short but distinct stipe. Such forms resemble externally Scyphium rubiginosum (Chev.) Rost. The hypothallus is also unique. V. next species.