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inside the sporangial wall, and the smooth or ohsoletely marked
threads of the capillitium. The present genus is allied to
Arcyria; in Arcyriaparadoxa we meet with lumps of lime and
of organic matter on the inner surface of the sporangial wall,
but the capillitium is characteristic of Arcyria.
The present genus is yet more closely allied to Ophiotheca ;
in fact it is impossible to say where one ends and the other
commences ; in Perichaena the capillitium threads are typically
without external markings, whereas in Lachnobolus the threads
have distinct raised markings, but in each genus species occur
deviating from the typical idea and in the direction of the other
genus, and it is doubtful whether the presence or absence of
markings on capillitium threads alone, even if constant, is of
sufficient value to constitute a generic distinction.
Distrib. Europe ; Borneo ; W. Australia ; Canada ; United
States. Species 9.
Perichaena depressa, Libert, (figs. 118—120).
Sporangia usually gregarious or much crowded, polygonal
from mutual pressure, very much depressed, and almost plane
above, dehiscing in a circumscissile manner, brown, sometimes
with a purple tinge, polished ; mass of capillitium and spores
bright orange-yellow ; capillitium usually well-developed, threads
variable in width, smooth, rarely notched or furnished with
rudimentary scattered spinules ; spores globose, minutely %uarted,
9— 12 g diameter.
Perichaena depressa. Lib., PI. Cr. Ard., Ease. IV., n. 378;
Rost., Mon., p. 292 ; Cke,, Myx. Brit., p. 77 ; Saco., Syll,
1434 ; Raunk., Myx. Dan., p. 54.
Exsicc.—Sacc., Myc. Ven. 500 ; Ellis, N. Amer. Fung., 1218 ;
Roum. Fung. Gall., 2113; Fuckel., Eung. Rhen., 2200; Lib., PI.
Crypt. Ard., Ease. IV., n. 378.
On wood, &o. Up to 1 mm. diameter. Characterized by the
very much flattened sporangia and bright yellow mass of spores.
Britain (Carlisle) ; Germany ; Bohemia ; Belgium ; Italy ;
France; United States.
(Rostafinski’s Synonyms.)
Perichciena vaporaria, Sohw., Am., 2311 (1831).
Perichaena depressa. Lib., Exs., n. 378 (1837).
Stegasma depressum, Cda., Ic. V., f. 13 (1842).
P e r i c h a e n a c o r t i e a l i s , Rost. (figs. 114—117).
Sporangia spherico-depressed, crowded, dehiscing in a ciroum-
soissile nTanner. lid convex, brown, bluish-purple, sometimes
whitish, smooth; mass of capillitium and spores p a h yellow;
capillitium scanty, sometimes almost obsolete, threads thin,
smooth, or here and there notched ; spores globose, warted, warts
variable in size, sometimes very indistinct, at others well-
developed, never smooth, 9—12 g diameter.
Perichaena cortiealis, Rost., Mon., p. 293, figs. 188; Cke., Myx.
Brit., 78, fig. 188; Sacc., Syll., n. 1435; Raunk., Myx. Dan.,
p. 53.
Pcrichasna fnsco-atra, Rost., Mon., p. 294; Cke., Myx. But.,
78 ; Sacc., Syll., n. 1436.
Perichaena qucrcina, Fr., Gast., p. 12. (Specimen from Fries
in Herb., Kew.)
f e ic c .—Sydow, Myc. March., 1669; Karst., Fung. Fenn.,
179; Fuckel, Fung. Rhen.. 1899; Berk., Brit. Fung., 47;
Desm., Cr. Fr., Ser. I., 671.
On hark and wood. Britain (Lyndhurst, Kew, Derby, Castle
Howard, Yorks; Carlisle, Edinburgh, Appin, N. B.); Europe;
Canada; United States; W. Australia; Ceylon.
Very closely allied to P. depressa, if indeed really distinct as
a species, the less depressed sporangium and scanty capillitium
are the distinguishing features of the present species.
In some specimens the wall of the sporangium has a dense
layer of angular particles of lime, and is consequently nearly or
quite white externally, in others the lime is scanty and in its
place a layer of amorphous, coloured granules of organic matter
which give tlie brown or reddish-purple colour to the sporangial