51�Թ�

Shield-shaped, same as scutate, or as peltate, 53.

Sporangia gregarious, globose or hemispheric, umbilicate beneath, small, white, stipitate; the peridium smoky, covered with minute calcareous crystals; stipe slender, erect, black, opaque; hypothallus scutate, black; columella distinct, globose, black or dark brown; capillitium of delicate threads, pale brown or colorless, with occasional brown thickenings or nodes, sparingly branched; spores pale, violaceous by transmitted light, minutely warted, 6–8 �.

It is at once recognisable by the rhomboidal scutate form of the cell viewed anteriorly, and, when the back is also viewed, the resemblance of the two aspects to the back, and breastplates of a coat of mail, is very striking.