Not rare. New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio.

2. Perichaena Fries

1817. Perichaena Fries, Symb. Gast., p. 11.

Sporangia flattened, sometimes small and roundish, more often larger, polygonal by mutual interference, or irregular, the peridium thickened outwardly by a dense reddish or brownish layer of scales; dehiscing by circumscission or by a lid; capillitium often scant, of slender, warted, yellowish threads, attached betimes to the upper wall; spores yellow, oval or spherical.

Key to the Species of Perichaena

A. Sporangia plainly flattened.

a. Very flat, sporangia 1mm. or more in width 1. P. depressa

b. Depressed; sporangia smaller 2. P. quadrata

B. Sporangia more or less spherical

a. Chestnut brown 3. P. corticalis

b. Gray or canescent 4. P. marginata

1. PERICHAENA DEPRESSA Libert.

PLATE XVII., Fig. 10.

1837. Perichaena depressa Lib., Fl. Crypt. Ard., IV., No., 378.

Sporangia sessile, applanate, crowded, polygonal by mutual contact, fuscous or chestnut brown, shining, opening by a definite lid; spore-mass and capillitium yellow, the capillitium well developed, of slender yellow threads of various widths, almost smooth; spores minutely warted, 10-12 mu.

Easily recognized by the peculiar, polygonal, depressed-flattened sporangia and consequent shallow spore-cases in which lie the yellow spores and scanty capillitium. Rostafinski refers here P. vaporaria Schw., No. 2311, but the meagre description seems rather to apply to the next species. The original material is no longer accessible.

In the crevices and on the inside of bark of fallen logs of various sorts, walnut, maple, etc.

Not commonly collected. Specimens are before us from New England, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Florida, Mexico, Nicaragua. Probably over the whole wooded region of the continent.

2. PERICHAENA QUADRATA Macbr.

1893. Perichaena irregularis Berk. & C., Morgan, Jour. Cin. Soc., p. 20.

Sporangia very small, less than 1/2 mm., crowded, polygonal or quadrangular, depressed, but not flattened, smooth, bright rufous or brown; the peridium rather thick, yellow within, the dehiscence circumscissile; capillitium scanty, of slender, sparingly branched filaments, the surface minutely roughened, warted or spinulose; spore-mass yellow; by transmitted light pale yellow, 9-11 mu.

Differs from the preceding by the much smaller size of the sporangia, different color and habit. The sporangia, while depressed, still maintain considerable rotundity; they are occasionally quite spherical, and then of very uneven size, hardly in contact. In some cases the plasmodium before maturing seems to assume the form of a plasmodiocarp, which, by transverse fission at intervals, forms the curious four-sided conceptacles. At other times the plasmodium assumes the shape of a flat cushion or plate, which then subdivides into minute polygonal segments. This form has been known some years to collectors, and, if named at all, has been called P. irregularis. Lister, l. c., assures us that Berkeley's type "is typical P. depressa."

Not common. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri.

3. PERICHAENA CORTICALIS (Batsch) Rost.

PLATE II., Figs. 1, 1 a, 1 b.

1783. Lycoperdon corticale Batsch, Elench. Fung., p. 155. 1875. Perichaena corticalis (Batsch) Rost., Mon., p. 293. 1817. Perichaena populina Fries, Symb. Gast., p. 12.

Sporangia sessile, gregarious, flattened, hemispherical; peridia simple, opening by a lid; dehiscence circumscissile, the upper part chestnut brown, the lower almost black; capillitium feebly developed, smooth, attached to the lid and usually coming away with it, bringing the brilliantly yellow spore-mass, and leaving a delicate, shining cupule adherent to the substratum; spores yellow, nearly smooth, 10-12 mu. On and under the bark of dead elms of various species.

A very handsome little species occuring rarely with us, or perhaps overlooked by virtue of its protective coloration. Found sometimes on the inner side of the bark where the latter has separated, but not yet wholly parted company with the wood. In such situations the tiny sporangia are so nearly quite the color of the moist substratum as to escape all but the closest scrutiny. The dehiscence is very remarkable, characteristic, beautiful. Black, brown, chestnut, and gold are harmoniously blended, in the opening coffers. Prior to maturity the future line of fission is plainly indicated by the difference in color.

This is clearly the species found by Batsch "ligni demortui putridi in interiore corticis pagina." Bulliard has also described and figured the species, Sphaerocarpus sessilis t. 417, Fig. V.

The capillitium is nearly smooth; the spores are only slightly roughened by minute warts.

Apparently not common. Iowa, Missouri; Black Hills, South Dakota; Canada;—Miss Currie.

4. PERICHAENA MARGINATA Schweinitz.

1831. Perichaena marginata Schw., N. A. F., No. 2319, p. 258.

Sporangia depressed, globose, polygonal as they become approximate or crowded, hoary canescent, sessile; peridium rather thick, persistent, circumscissile in dehiscence, covered without by minute whitish calcareous (?) scales, within punctate by the imprint of the spores; hypothallus distinct, white; capillitium scant or none! Spores in mass dull yellow, by transmitted light pale, nearly smooth, 14-15 mu.

Lister, following Rostafinski, includes this form with the preceding. The differences between the two forms are, it seems to us, sufficient to make convenient their separation as by Schweinitz. Apart from the peculiar incrustation in the present species, the larger spores, and especially the peculiar white hypothallus, are distinctive. The method of dehiscence is also different. In P. corticalis the line of cleavage before spore dispersal is indicated by a definite band surrounding the sporangium. Nothing similar appears in the gray specimens of the present form, although the dehiscence is quite as certainly circumscissile. The habitat in American specimens is the outer surface of the bark, which causes the species generally, by protective coloration, to be overlooked.

Not common. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri.

C. ARCYRIACEAE

Key to the Genera of the Arcyriaceae

A. Peridium becoming fragmentary, but persisting; capillitium non-elastic 1. LACHNOBOLUS

B. Peridium evanescent above, persistent below; capillitium elastic 2. ARCYRIA

C. Capillitium elastic, bearing hamate branches 3. HETEROTRICHIA

1. Lachnobolus Fries.

1829. Lachnobolus Fries, Syst. Myc., III., p. 177.

Sporangia distinct, sessile or nearly so, globose or cylindric, often distorted, scattered or densely crowded, the peridium extremely thin, ruptured irregularly, and persistent in fragments; capillitium attached at numerous points to the sporangial wall, forming a dense net, the threads warted or spinulose, non-elastic.

Species of this genus are easily distinguished from those of the next by the peculiar fragile peridium and the inelastic capillitium.

Key to the Species of Lachnobolus

A. Sporangia pale yellow, on fallen flowers and fruit-burs of Castanea 1. L. globosus

B. Sporangia rosy or copper-colored, at length ochraceous 2. L. occidentalis

1. LACHNOBOLUS GLOBOSUS (Schw.) Rost.

1822. Arcyria globosa Schw., Syn. Fung. Carol., No. 400. 1875. Lachnobolus globosus (Schw.) Rost., Mon., p. 283. 1894. Arcyria albida Pers. (in part) Lister, Mycetozoa, p. 186.

Sporangia on the spines of fallen chestnut burs, scattered, pale yellow or whitish, small, globose, the peridium early evanescent above, more persistent below, stipitate; stipe small, tapering upward, from a small hypothallus; capillitium a dense but not expanding network attached chiefly to the lower portion of the sporangial wall, minutely waited or roughened, with few expansions or inflations; spores in mass pale yellow, under the lens colorless, almost smooth, 7-8 mu.

This singular little species is remarkable chiefly in the habitat it affects,—fallen chestnut burs. On these almost universal, but on nothing else, except on the fallen catkins of the same species. Regarded by Mr. Lister as A. cinerea, from which it differs constantly in form, in capillitium more open and with larger threads, 4-5 mu in diameter as well as in its unique habitat, and yellowish color.

Distribution coterminous with that of Castanea dentata Borkhausen,—eastern half of the United States.

2. LACHNOBOLUS OCCIDENTALIS Macbr.

PLATE II., Figs. 2, 2 a, 2 b; 4 and 4 a.

1885. Lachnobolus incarnatus (Alb. & Schw.) Macbr., Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. Iowa, II., p. 126.

Sporangia scattered or crowded upon a hypothallus more or less distinct, globose or ellipsoidal, short-stipitate, varying somewhat in color, at first rosy or flesh-colored, later brownish or ochraceous; the peridium exceedingly thin, pellucid, mealy, evanescent above, persisting as a shallow cup below; capillitium inelastic, rather closely netted of threads variable in thickness, marked by frequent thickenings or expansions, everywhere warted, attached to the peridial walls, spores in mass flesh-colored, under the lens colorless, smooth, globose, 7.5-9 mu.

This delicate and elegant little species appears to be not uncommon, but is probably generally passed over as an Arcyria, which it superficially resembles. When newly formed, the sporangia have a peculiar rosy or flesh-colored metallic tint, which is all their own. Within a short time this color passes, and most of the material comes from the field brownish or ochraceous in color. Typical sporangia are spherical on distinct short stipes; when crowded, the shape is of course less definite. The capillitium never expands as in Arcyria, but, exposed by the vanishing upper wall, remains a spherical mass resting upon the shallow cup-like base of the peridium.

This species has been in the United States generally distributed as L. incarnatus (Alb. & Schw.) Schroet. A careful study of all descriptions of European forms and comparison of many specimens leads us to believe that we have here to do with a type presenting constant peculiarities. We have in America nothing to correspond with the figures of Schweinitz, Berkeley, or Lister. In the American gatherings the sporangia are uniformly regular, globose, very generally short-stipitate, more or less closely gregarious, never superimposed, or heaped as shown in Berkeley's figure, for instance, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., IV., xvii., Pl. ix., Fig. 2. The plasmodium of our species is white; as it approaches maturity a rosy metallic tinge supervenes, quickly changing to dull yellow or alutaceous. The graphic description given by Fries of Perichaena incarnata, Syst. Myc., III., p. 193, presents scarcely a character attributable to the form before us. L. congesta Berk. & Br., evidently the form figured and described by Lister, Mycetozoa, p. 194, Pl. lxx., B., resembles our species in color and capillitium, but is entirely different in habit.

Not uncommon. Maine, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska.

2. Arcyria (Hill) Pers.

1751. Arcyria Sir John Hill, Gen. Nat. Hist., II., p. 47. 1801. Arcyria Pers., Syn. Fung., p. 182.

Sporangia ovoid or cylindric or even globose, stipitate; the peridium thin, evanescent to near the base, the lower part persisting as a calyculus; the stipe variable, packed with free cell-like vesicles, resembling spores, but larger; capillitium attached below, to the interior of the stipe or to the calyculus, in form an elastic network, the tubules adorned with warts, spinules, half-rings, etc., but without spiral bands or free extremities.

Micheli, of course, discovered the arcyrias, put them in two genera and several species, which we may only dimly recognize. Persoon first saw distinctly the outlines of the genus as now understood and adopted the name given by Hill in his curiously prolix description of certain species, probably partly of the genus Arcyria, partly Stemonitis.

Key to the Species of Arcyria

A. Mature capillitium loosely adhering to the calyculus.

a. Mature capillitium far-expanded, drooping.

i. Dusky.

O Long, 12 mm. or more 1. A. magna

OO Shorter, about 6 mm. 2. A. oerstedtii

ii. Yellow 3. A. nutans

b. Mature capillitium short, not drooping, though sometimes procumbent.

i. Capillitium greenish yellow 4. A. versicolor

ii. Capillitium reddish, flesh-colored, at length sordid, etc.

O Capillitium marked by transverse half-rings, cogs, etc. 5. A. incarnata

OO Capillitium marked by sharp-edged transverse plates and by numerous nodes 6. A. nodulosa

OOO Capillitium marked by close reticulations 7. A. ferruginea

B. Capillitium persistently attached to the calyculus.

a. Sporangia reddish brown, etc. 8. A. denudata

b. Sporangia gray or ashen

i. Simple 9. A. cinerea

ii. Clustered 10. A. digitata

c. Sporangia yellow 11. A. pomiformis

d. Sporangia rose-colored, .5-1.5 mm. 12. A. insignis

1. ARCYRIA MAGNA Rex.

1893. Arcyria magna Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 364.

Sporangia densely aggregated, forming clusters of greater or less extent, sometimes reaching several centimetres in either direction, tawny gray or ashen, cylindric, tapering a little above, when expanded reaching a length of half a centimetre or more, stipitate; peridium evanescent except the small shallow cup-like base, the calyculus; stipe long (1 mm.), weak, pale brown or reddish, tubular, the channel filled with plasmodic masses; capillitium gray or drab-colored, very slightly attached to the bottom of the calyculus, far expanded, forming a loose-meshed net, the threads regular, cylindric, coarsely sculptured with rings, half-rings, cogs, spines, etc.; spores in mass dull gray, drab, under the lens colorless, papillate, with few papillae, 7-8 mu.

This magnificent form resembles in habit and general appearance, save color, A. nutans. The capillitium is, however, very different both in the sculpture and in the more delicate markings of the threads. Dr. Rex, l. c., has pointed out the lack of reticulation on the capillitium and calyculus. The color is also diagnostic. A roseate variety seems to occur with the present form. This is A. magna rosea Rex, and appears to agree with the type in all respects save color. The relationship here must be determined by future inquiry. The capillitial threads are remarkable for their graceful slenderness, regularity, and symmetry.

2. ARCYRIA OERSTEDTII Rost.

1875. Arcyria oerstedtii Rost., Mon., p. 278, Fig. 196.

Sporangia cylindric, arcuate, 1.5 mm. high when unexpanded, closely clustered, dull crimson, stipitate; peridium evanescent except here and there a persistent patch, the calyculus shallow, plicate, papillose within; stipe short, weak, concolorous; hypothallus distinct, membranous, concolorous; capillitium a loose, far-expanding, elastic net, the meshes uneven, often small, the threads characterized by much irregularity and many bulbose thickenings, especially at the nodes, strongly spinulose throughout; spore-mass crimson or reddish brown, dull; spores by transmitted light colorless, nearly smooth, sub-globose, 9-10 mu.

This well-marked species is certainly rare within our limits. We have specimens from New England and from Pennsylvania. The Iowa material referred to this species, Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. Ia., II., p. 125, is A. magna Rex. Rostafinski's figure is excellent in the present case, and gives the idea of what we regard the typical marking of the capillitium in A. oerstedtii. Externally the species resembles somewhat A. nodulosa, and the network of the capillitium is also suggestive of that form; the spiny capillitium is unique.

Rare. Adirondacks, New York—Dr. Rex.

3. ARCYRIA NUTANS (Bull.) Grev.

PLATE II., Figs. 6, 6 a, 6 b.

1791. Trichia nutans Bulliard, Champ., p. 122, t. 502, III. 1794. Arcyria flava Pers., Roemer N. Mag. Bot., I., p. 90. 1824. Arcyria nutans Grev., Fl. Edin., p. 455.

Sporangia crowded, cylindric, about 2 mm. high when unexpanded, pale yellow or buff, short-stipitate or sessile by an acute base; peridium wholly evanescent, except at the base, where persists the shallow, colorless, often inwardly spinulose, plicatulate calyculus; stipe very short or wanting; hypothallus thin but usually in evidence; capillitium expanding to great length, forming an extremely flexile, plumose, pendulose open network of pale ochraceous tint, the threads 3-4 mu in thickness, adorned with spinules, sharp edged transverse plates sometimes rings, the surface especially marked by an indistinct reticulation; spore-mass buff or ochraceous, spores by transmitted light colorless, smooth or nearly so, 7-8 mu.

This elegant species is not rare in undisturbed woods, especially on fallen willows. The expanded capillitia are very soft and plume-like, waving and nodding, very lightly attached below to the centre of the peridial cup. The capillitium threads are rough, with irregular spines and sharp-edged transverse plates, occasionally extending to form rings. Resembles the first species somewhat in habit, size, and the spinescent capillitium, but the resemblance is superficial only. The color is at once diagnostic, and the capillitium is after all entirely different. Not uncommon; Canada to Mexico; Maine to California; probably cosmopolitan.

Bulliard's figure determines the synonymy. Persoon called the form A. flava, because Bulliard had missed the genus.

4. ARCYRIA VERSICOLOR Phillips.

1877. Arcyria versicolor Phillips, Grev., V., p. 115. 1877. Arcyria vitellina Phillips, Grev., V., p. 115.

Sporangia gregarious or more or less crowded, pyriform or clavate, dingy, olivaceous yellow, becoming reddish, stipitate; peridium membranous, largely persistent below, where it gives rise to the deep, goblet-shaped calyculus; stipe strand-like, weak, sometimes wanting, concolorous with the peridium; hypothallus prominent or venulose; capillitium only slowly expanded, bright golden yellow or orange, the threads rather broad, about 4 mu in diameter, regular, even, elegantly branching, adorned with abundant short spines or warts, very small and evenly distributed, the whole net anchored in the bottom of the vasiform calyculus; spore-mass yellow, by transmitted light pale or nearly colorless, smooth, about 10 mu.

This beautiful species is easily known by its comparatively large size, peculiar, obovate shape, its brilliant color, and unusually persistent membranous calyculus. It is peculiar to the western part of North America, South Dakota west to the Pacific Ocean.

South Dakota, Colorado, California, Washington.

In the thin-covered mountains of Colorado, or hidden by the still drier thickets and woods of Southern California, the fruit of this species is small, somewhat as the clavate hemitrichia, pure, deep yellow, golden or vitelline as Phillips says; but at loftier altitudes in the ever cool forests on the high mountain flanks, beginning away up where the glacier first starts to crack and slide between the 'cleavers', and forests of stunted white-stemmed pine or wooly-fruited fir throw down their twigs and foliage undisturbed through centuries,—on down to where the plowing ice forgets its thrust, and melts to gentle floods amid spruce and hemlock-groves,—all the way the beautiful versicolor spreads and fruits, in August and September in all the richness of color which its name implies, which Phillips saw, tints of red, and yellow, and olive, and green, not brilliant, but in all the softer shades the artists love, weaving, in far-spread strands of tufted cylinders and cones upturned, fair as flowers, dusky garlands, by sunlight long forgot! Did not the old-time botanists liken these things once and again, to flowers!

5. ARCYRIA INCARNATA Persoon.

1786. Clathrus adnatus Batsch, Elench. Fung., 141. (?) 1791. Arcyria incarnata Pers., Gmel., Syst. Nat., II., 1467.

Sporangia closely crowded, cylindric, 1-1.5 mm. high, rosy or flesh-colored, stipitate or almost sessile; stipe generally short, sometimes barely a conical point beneath the calyculus; hypothallus none; peridium wholly evanescent, except the shallow, saucer-like, inwardly roughened calyculus; capillitium loose, broad, pale reddish, attached to the cup at the centre only by strands which enter the hollow stem, the threads adorned with transverse plates, cogs, ridges, etc., arranged in an open spiral; spore-mass rosy, spores by transmitted light colorless, nearly smooth, 7-8 mu.

This common species is well marked both by its color and by the delicate attachment of the capillitium to the calyculus. This is so frail that the slightest breath ofttimes suffices to effect a separation, and the empty calyculi are not infrequently the only evidence of the fructification. This peculiarity did not escape the attention of Persoon, and is well shown in his figure (Obs. Myc., I., p. 58, pl. V. Figs. 4 and 5) referred to by Gmelin, l. c. Batsch simply named and described Micheli's figure (Tab. XCIV., Fig. 2), and accordingly his claim to priority is no better than Micheli's figure, which may possibly concern the present species, but is in no sense determinative. It is impossible to say what Retzius meant by his Clathrus ramosus, cited by Fries as a synonym here.

Common, especially in the Mississippi valley and south; more rare in the west; Black Hills, South Dakota; Toronto to New Mexico.

6. ARCYRIA NODULOSA Macbr.

PLATE III., Fig. 8.

Sporangia small, about 1 mm. high when unexpanded, crowded in clusters of varying size, dull red or brownish, stipitate; the peridium evanescent except the cup; stipe very short, concolorous, plicate as the cup, or both smooth and unmarked; capillitium centrally attached, slowly expanded, open-meshed, dense, the threads even, 5-6 mu wide, expanded in globose, spinulose, or papillate-reticulate nodules, especially at points of intersection, marked everywhere by close-set, transverse, sharp-edged ridges, which encircle the thread and show no trace of spiral arrangement; spore-mass brown or red brown; spores by transmitted light pale yellow or colorless, minutely but distinctly roughened, globose, 10-12 mu.

This variety is not distantly related to the preceding, as shown by the centrally attached capillitial mass, but differs in several definite particulars; the sporangia are much smaller of an entirely different color with longer stipes, larger, rougher spores; the capillitium is also peculiar, the threads unusually wide and densely corrugated transversely, expanding at frequent intervals into globose nodules which are sometimes double the width of the thread. In color suggests A. affinis Rost., but corresponds to no other particular.

7. ARCYRIA FERRUGINEA Sauter.

PLATE XII., Figs. 6, 6 a, 6 b.

1841. Arcyria ferruginea Saut., Flora, XXIV., p. 316. 1881. Arcyria macrospora Peck, Rep. N. Y. Mus., XXXIV., p. 43. 1883. Arcyria aurantiaca Raunier, Myx. Dan., p. (44).

Sporangia ovoid or short cylindric, crowded or gregarious, dull red or brownish, stipitate; stipe about equal to the sporangium, dark brown or black; hypothallus well developed, membranous, yellowish brown continuous; calyculus large, wide and shallow, smooth; capillitium centrally attached, when fresh, brick-red in color, fading on exposure, the threads of uneven size, those above 6-7 mu, below 3 mu, abundantly branching, marked by conspicuous reticulations formed by the intersection of numerous vertical plates or ridges; spore-mass reddish, spores by transmitted light pale ochraceous, distinctly warted, 10-12 mu.

This species is distinguishable at sight by the peculiar color and form of the sporangia. Mr. Durand in Bot. Gaz., XIX., pp 89, 90, gives a careful study of the form. The same author declares the dehiscence circumscissile. We cannot distinguish A. aurantiaca Raun. from the present form.

Rare. Maine, New York; Monterey, California.

8. ARCYRIA DENUDATA (Linn.) Sheldon.

PLATE II., Figs. 5, 5 a.

1753. Clathrus denudatus Linn., Syst. Nat., 1179. 1794. Arcyria punicea Pers., Roem. N. Mag. Bot., I., p. 90. 1895. Arcyria denudata (Linn.) Sheld., Minn. Bot. Studies, No. 9, p. 470.

Sporangia crowded or gregarious, ovoid or short cylindrical, tapering upward, red-brown, stipitate; peridium evanescent except the plicate calyculus; stipe about equal to the expanded capillitium, concolorous, plicate or striate, ascending from a small hypothallus; capillitium attached to the whole inner surface of the calyculus and connate with it; hence not deciduous, bright red or carmine when fresh, turning brown or paler with age, the threads even, about 3 mu adorned with a series of rather distant cogs or half rings, which form around the thread a lengthened spiral; spore-mass red or reddish brown, spores by transmitted light colorless, nearly smooth, 6-8 mu.

This species is easily distinguished from all other of similar tints by the attachment of the capillitium. In this respect it corresponds with the following species. In the adornment of the threads it is like A. incarnata. It is by far the commonest species of the genus, and probably enjoys a world-wide distribution. To be found at all seasons on the lower side of fallen sticks, Populus, Tilia, etc.

Micheli, Pl. XCIV., shows that he had the present species. The description given by Linne is worthless, but helped out by Micheli, and several other authors of the eighteenth century, who take the trouble to describe the species, but still give the Linnean binomial as a synonym; we may give Linne here the credit. As a matter of fact, Batsch under Embolus crocatus first presents an unmistakable description and figure.

Maine to the Black Hills and Colorado, and north and west; Alaska to Nicaragua.

9. ARCYRIA CINEREA (Bull.) Pers.

PLATE II., Figs. 3, 3 a.

1791. Trichia cinerea Bull., Champ. de France, p. 120, Tab. 477, Fig. iii. 1801. Arcyria cinerea (Bull.) Pers., Syn. Fung., p. 184.

Sporangia scattered or gregarious, ovoid or cylindrical, generally tapering upward, about 2-3 mm. high, ashen gray, sometimes with a yellowish tinge, stipitate; calyculus very small, thin; stipe about half the total height, rising from a small hypothallus, thin, gray or blackish, densely crowded with spore-like cells; capillitium dense, freely branching, ashen, or yellowish, little wider below, minutely spinulose; spore-mass concolorous, spores by transmitted light colorless, smooth, 6-7 mu.

A very common little species, easily recognized by its color and habit. The capillitium is more dense than in any other species and expands less. The stipe is about equal to the expanded capillitium, unusually long. The plasmodium occurs in rotten wood, especially species of Tilia, is gray and, judging from the number of sporangia found in one place, scanty.

Bulliard, l. c., gives the first account of the species by which it can with any certainty be identified. By some authors Clathrus recutitus Linn. is cited as a synonym. We fail to distinguish A. cookei Mass. from the old type.

Widely distributed; Maine to Alaska, and south to Mexico and Nicaragua.

10. ARCYRIA DIGITATA (Schw.) Rost.

1831. Stemonitis digitata Schw., N. A. F., p. 260, No. 2350. 1868. Arcyria bicolor Berk. & C., Jour. Linn. Soc., X., p. 349. 1875. Arcyria digitata (Schw.) Rost., Mon., p. 274.

Sporangia compound, that is gathered in tufts, number 3-12 or more on a single stipe, the clusters themselves scattered; individual sporangia elongate cylindric, about 3-4 mm. long, ashen gray or nearly white, stipitate; stipe as long or longer than the sporangium, stout, sometimes showing traces of consolidation of several, sometimes none, dark brown or black; capillitium looser and more expanded than in the last, the threads more strongly spinulose; spore-mass concolorous, spores under the lens colorless, smooth, globose, 7.5-8 mu

Closely related to the preceding, but different in habit and on the whole larger and more robust throughout. The stipes in some cases are completely merged in one; in others traces of coalescence remain. The number of united sporangia varies. There are some clusters before us containing 16 and 18 in a single fascicle!

Not very common. On rotten wood of deciduous trees, especially south.

New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio; Black Hills, South Dakota, and south to Nicaragua.

Arcyria bicolor Berk. & C. seems to refer to the fact that the sporangia have sometimes an ochraceous tint. Berkeley's specimens are from Cuba. Our latest specimens are from Nicaragua; the form seems not to be reported from the old world.

11. ARCYRIA POMIFORMIS (Leers) Rost.

1775. Mucor pomiformis Leers, Flor. Herb., p. 218. 1875. Arcyria pomiformis Rost., Mon., p. 271.

Sporangia scattered, gregarious, globose, bright yellow, very minute, .5 mm. high, .3 mm. in diameter, stipitate; stipe short, one-third the total height, pale brown or yellow; hypothallus none; capillitium loose, freely expanding, not deciduous, honey-yellow, the threads generally wide, 4-5 mu, toward the periphery more narrow, 2.5 mu warted, marked with blunt spinules, which not infrequently pass into distinct transverse, narrow plates or half-rings, free ends clavate and numerous; spore-mass yellow, spores by transmitted light smooth, granular, globose, 7-9 mu.

This species as represented by the material before us seems constant in size, color, and microscopic characters, in all which it differs from all species here listed. It resembles somewhat Lachnobolus globosus Schw., but differs in habit, habitat, color, the capillitium, its attachment and in the mode of dehiscence. In the present species the wall is evanescent almost in toto; in L. globosus is it remarkably persistent, and the capillitium is adherent.

Probably rare. Its smallness removes it from sight of all but the most exact collectors. Maine, New York, South Carolina, Alabama, Missouri, Iowa; Black Hills, South Dakota; Ontario;—Miss Currie.

While usually remotely gregarious a collection from southern California shows that on occasion the entire plasmodium may pass to fruit with narrowest limits, forming a stipitate, compact, globose mass of crowded, superimposed sporangia as in Oligonema nitens. Set Plate XX., Fig. 12.

12. ARCYRIA INSIGNIS Kalkbr. & Cke.

1882. Arcyria insignis Kalkbr. & Cke., Grev., X., p. 143. 1911. Arcyria insignis Kalkbr. & Cke., List., Mycet., 2nd ed., p. 240.

Sporangia gregarious or clustered, pale or bright rose-colored, .5-1.5 mm. in height, stipitate, ovate or cylindric; stipe short, .2-.4 mm. red, with spore-like cells; capillitium a close net-work of delicate threads with a few bulbous free ends, with faint transverse bands or short spinules, or nearly smooth, colorless beneath the lens; spores colorless, nearly smooth, 6-8 mu.

Reported from Mass. by Miss Lister. Should follow No. 8: apparently a very delicate form of the common species, A. denudata.

3. Heterotrichia Mass.

1892. Heterotrichia Mass., Mon., p. 139.

Sporangia distinct, stipitate; the peridium simple evanescent above as in Arcyria; capillitium centrally attached, freely branched, the threads within very slender, without broad, anastomosing to form a dense peripheral network, and everywhere extended to form short, free, often hamate tips. A single species,—

1. HETEROTRICHIA GABRIELLAE (Rav.) Mass.

PLATE XIII., Figs. 1, 1 a.

1850. Arcyria gabriellae Rav. in litt. ad Cooke. 1892. Heterotrichia gabriellae Mass., Mon., p. 140. 1911. Arcyria ferruginea Saut., var. heterotrichia List., Mycet., 2nd ed., p. 234.

Sporangia crowded or gregarious, oblong cylindric, ovoid, at first red, becoming yellowish brown, stipitate; the peridium evanscent except the calyculus, which is small and thin, polished; stipe shorter than the expanded capillitium, pale reddish brown; capillitium centrally attached, showing threads of two sorts, those within freely branching, slender, 1-1.5 mu, marked with half-rings or ridges, those on the periphery very different, yellow, broad, 5-6 mu, forming rather dense reticulations, with abundant free tips, acute and often curved, the whole surface here minutely and densely warted; spore-mass reddish yellow, spores by transmitted light colorless, globose, 7-8 mu.

The peculiar double capillitium seems to separate this form from the true arcyrias. Some difference in the diameter of the capillitial threads in different regions is not infrequent in the several species of Arcyria, but that difference is here emphasized and rendered yet more striking by the peculiar free tips. The present forms bear only the most superficial resemblance to A. ferruginea Saut., with which species it is in some quarters sought to unite it.

Very rare. Collected, as noted, nearly fifty years ago in South Carolina by Ravenel, it was more recently (1896) again collected in Maine by the late Professor Harvey.

D. PROTOTRICHIACAE

A single genus,—

Prototrichia Rost.

1876. Prototrichia Rost., Mon. App., p. 38.

A single species,—

1. PROTOTRICHIA METALLICA (Berk.) Mass.

PLATE XVIII., Figs. 12, 12 a, 12 b.

1860. Trichia metallica Berk. Hook., Fl. Tasm., 2, p. 168. 1866. Trichia flagellifera Berk. & Br., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 3, XVII., p. 56. 1876. Prototrichia flagellifera (Berk.) Rost. Mon. App., p. 38. 1894. Prototrichia flagellifera Rost., List., Mycet. 2nd ed., p. 206. 1899. Prototrichia flagellifera (Berk. & Br.) Rost., Macbr., N. A. S., p. 199. 1892. Prototrichia metallica Mass., Mon., p. 127. 1911. Prototrichia metallica Mass., List., Mycet., 2nd ed., p. 260.

Sporangia sessile, scattered or sometimes crowded, brown, sometimes with a rosy tinge, about 1 mm. in diameter; peridium a thin, transparent, iridescent membrane, bearing in its inner surface the distal attachments of the capillitial threads; capillitium of numerous brown, spirally banded threads, which take origin in the base of the sporangium, become subdivided as they ascend, and are at length attached by their tips to the sporangium wall; spore-mass brown, spores by transmitted light pale, minutely roughened.

This curious form, with its spirally sculptured capillitial threads attached at both ends, stands intermediate between Dianema and Hemitrichia and Trichia. Berkeley called it a trichia, ignoring the attachment of the threads. Cooke notes this as sufficient to exclude the form from the genus. But it remained for Rostafinski to make the transfer by setting up for its reception the genus now adopted. He preferred the later (1866) specific name as more descriptive. Miss Lister reverts to the earlier name with the remark; "Little now remains of the type Prototrichia metallica Berk. from Tasmania; but the specimen is referred to Prototrichia flagellifera by Rostafinski who saw it in good condition."

Not uncommon in the abietine forests of the West. Alberta, Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, Colorado.

E. TRICHIACEAE

Capillitium marked by spiral bands, sometimes scattered rings, etc., the threads entirely free, or at least loosely branched, and with free tips more or less numerous.

Key to the Genera of the Trichiaceae

A. Capillitium threads long, generally united to form a loose net, centrally attached.

a. Sculpture spiral 1. Hemitrichia

b. Sculpture reticulate 2. Calonema

B. Capillitial threads shorter, entirely free, though sometimes branched.

a. Threads, elaters, marked by spiral bands 3. Trichia

b. Sculpture irregular or wanting 4. Oligonema

1. Hemitrichia Rost.

1829. Hemiarcyria Fries, Syst. Myc., III., p. 183 in part. 1873. Hemitrichia Rost., Versuch, p. 14.

Capillitium a tangled net of more or less branching and anastomosing fibres centrally attached; the sculpture regular, of conspicuous spirally winding bands or ridges; habit and color various.

The species here associated are intermediate between Arcyria and Trichia, resembling the former in the capillitial net and the latter in thread-sculpture. Fries applied the name Hemiarcyrieae to a group of trichias so-called, citing H. rubiformis as the first. In his Versuch Rostafinski wrote Hemitrichia and afterward Hemiarcyria in the Monograph. Massee combines the genera Arcyria and Hemiarcyria under the former name.

Key to the Species of Hemitrichia

A. Plasmodiocarpous

a. Plasmodiocarp net-like, yellow 1. H. serpula

b. Imperfectly plasmodiocarpous, brown 2. H. karstenii

B. Sporangia all distinct.

a. Sessile; very short stalked

i. Peridium hyaline, iridescent 3. H. ovata

ii. Peridium opaque 10. H. montana

b. Stipitate, generally distinctly so; sometimes nearly sessile.

i. Yellow or ochraceous.

O Stalk hollow.

+ Small, 1/2 mm., iridescent 6. H. leiocarpa

+ Larger, 1 mm., smooth but not iridescent

1. Free ends more or less abundant 8. H. clavata

2. Free ends none 9. H. stipitata

OO Stalk solid 7. H. intorta

ii. Not yellow.

O Ruby red 4. H. vesparium

OO Copper-colored 5. H. stipata

1. HEMITRICHIA SERPULA (Scop.) Rost.

PLATE III., Figs. 4, 4 a, 4 b.

1772. Mucor serpula Scop., Fl. Carn, II., p. 493. 1794. Trichia serpula (Scop.) Pers., Roem. N. Bot. Mag., I., p. 90 1875. Hemiarcyria serpula (Scop.) Rost., Mon., p. 266.

Fructification plasmodiocarpous, often covering several square centimetres, terete, branching freely and usually everywhere reticulate, rusty, tawny, or bright yellow; the peridium thin, transparent, with irregular dehiscence; hypothallus none; capillitium variable, a tangle of long yellow threads, sparingly branched, free everywhere, except below, spinulose, the free tips spinose, acuminate, spiral ridges three or four, with traces of longitudinal striae; spore-mass golden yellow, spores beneath the lens pale yellow, globose, delicately reticulate, about 10 mu.

Very common, recognized by its bright yellow color and conspicuous reticulate habit. The plasmodium is yellow, at least upon emergence, and passes almost without change to fruit. Found on rotten logs of every description, on the lower surface. In the Mississippi valley, the lower surface of planks used in the construction of sidewalks appears to be a favorite habitat.

Common west to the Rocky Mountains, south to Mexico and Nicaragua.

2. HEMITRICHIA KARSTENII (Rost.) List.

1876. Hemiarcyria karstenii Rost., Mon., App., p. 41. 1891. Hemiarcyria obscura Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 395. 1894. Hemitrichia karstenii Lister, Mycetozoa, p. 178.

Fructification plasmodiocarpous, with a tendency to form distinct sessile, globose sporangia, color brownish red; capillitium a sparingly branched network, with free ends few, the thread marked by seven or eight faint spirals, the interspaces narrow, dull red in color, and 2.5 mu in diameter; spores yellow, delicately warted, 10-10.5 mu.

This is doubtless a very rare species. In the description we have followed Dr. Rex, l. c., as being more to the point for American forms. It is not improbable that the American material may after all be distinct, as discrepancies, if one may judge by descriptions, are not few. Lister, who had a slide from Dr. Rex, considers the European and American forms the same.

In outward appearing, plasmodiocarpous phases of this species very closely resemble forms of Licea or Ophiotheca, and are in consequence often wrongly labeled.

Toronto; Montana—Anderson. To be looked for north and west.

3. HEMITRICHIA OVATA (Pers.) Macbr.

1796. Trichia ovata Pers., Obs. Myc., I., p. 61, and II., p. 35. 1863. Trichia abietina Wigand, Pringsh. Jahr., III., p. 33, Tab. ii., Fig. 11. 1875. Hemiarcyria wigandii Rost., Mon., p. 167.

Sporangia crowded or sometimes closely gregarious, sub-globose or turbinate, shining yellow, sessile, the peridium thin, iridescent; capillitium a tangle of sparingly branched yellow or ochraceous-yellow threads, rather slender, 3-5 mu, marked by one or two prominent spiral bands forming a loose somewhat irregular spiral, the free ends not infrequent, inflated and rounded; spore-mass yellow or yellow-ochraceous, spores by transmitted light pale yellow, distinctly and sharply spinulose, but not netted, 10-11 mu.

A rare and beautiful species, distinguished well by the small size, about .5 mm., by the thin iridescent peridium, as by the microscopic characters of the capillitial threads.

There is no doubt that this is Persoon's Trichia ovata. His description is accurate in all that pertains to external features, and Rostafinski, App., p. 41, explicitly says that he saw in Persoon's herbarium specimens of the species bearing the name cited. Just why Rostafinski did not here adopt the older name is not clear, nor is there excuse for abandoning Wigand's name were Persoon's invalid. According to Lister, Trichia nana Mass., from Maine, is the same thing. Persoon, l. c., gives a synonymy which, in the nature of case, is unverifiable, the specific characters being microscopic.

Fries, Syst. Myc., III., p. 187, confirms Persoon and takes pains to say that the color separates it from T. chrysosperma with which it is sometimes compared.

Rare. Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Toronto.

4. HEMITRICHIA VESPARIUM (Batsch) Macbr.

PLATE III., Figs. 2 and 2 a.

1786. Lycoperdon vesparium Batsch, Elench. Fung., pp. 255, 256, Fig. 172. 1794. Trichia rubiformis Pers., Roem. N. Bot. Mag., I., p. 88. 1875. Hemiarcyria rubiformis (Pers.) Rost., Mon., p. 262.

Sporangia clustered or crowded, rarely single, clavate or subcylindric stipitate or sessile, dark wine-red or red-black in color, the peridium in perfect specimens glossy or shining metallic, opaque; stipes solid, usually blent together, concolorous; capillitium of intertwisted slender threads, sparingly branched, marked by three or four spiral ridges, abundantly spinulose, the free tips also acuminate, terminating in a spine, the whole mass dull red. Spore-mass brownish-red, spores by transmitted light reddish-orange, very distinctly warted, sub-globose, 10-12 mu.

A most common species, on rotten wood everywhere, especially in forests. Recognized generally at sight by its color and fasciculate habit. The peridium shows a tendency, often, to circumscissile dehiscence, and persists long after the contents have been dissipated, in this condition suggesting the name applied by Batsch, vesparium, wasp-nest. The capillitium is remarkably spinescent, the branching of the threads, rare. Rostafinski describes the spores as smooth; they seem to be uniformly distinctly warted. The plasmodium is deep red, and a plasmodiocarpous fructification occasionally appears.

Throughout the whole range, New England to Washington and Oregon, south to Nicaragua; Toronto.

5. HEMITRICHIA STIPATA (Schw.) Macbr.

PLATE I., Figs. 8, 8 a, 8 b.

1834. Leangium stipatum Schw., N. A. F., p. 258, No. 2304. 1876. Hemiarcyria stipata (Schw.) Rost., Mon. App., pp. 41, 42. 1894. Arcyria stipata (Schw.) Lister, Mon. Mycetozoa, p. 189.

Sporangia distinct, crowded, cylindric or irregular, overlying one another, rich copper-colored, metallic, shining, becoming brown, stipitate; peridium thin, the upper portion early evanescent, the base persistent as a cup, as in Arcyria; capillitium concolorous, the thread abundantly branched to form a loose net, with many free and bulbous ends, pale under the lens, marked by three or four somewhat obscure spiral bands and a few wart-like or plate-like thickenings; stipe very short; spore-mass reddish, spores by transmitted light pale, nearly or quite smooth, 6-8 mu.

This species is known at sight by its peculiarly beautiful tint when fresh, as by the crowded prolix habit of the singular overlying sporangia. The netted capillitium and the evanescent peridium suggests Arcyria, but there are abundant free tips, and the threads are unmistakably spirally wound, especially in the large, handsome sporangia characteristic of the Mississippi valley. It is a boundary form unquestionably. The stipe is generally very short, about one-tenth the total height; sometimes, when the peridium is more globose, the stipe is proportionally longer. Specimens from Iowa show fructifications several centimetres long and wide.

Not rare. New England to the Black Hills and south.

6. HEMITRICHIA LEIOCARPA (Cke.) Macbr.

1877. Hemiarcyria leiocarpa Cke., Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N. Y., XI., p. 405. 1891. Hemiarcyria varneyi Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 396.

Sporangia simple, obovate or pyriform, rarely almost globose, pallid, with a stem of the same color, as long as the diameter of the sporangium; spore-mass and capillitium concolorous, or with slight ochraceous tint; capillitium forming a loose net, the tubes branching in a reticulate manner; spirals three, thin, prominent, along the convex sides of the tubes mixed with a few obtuse spines; spores globose, with a thin membrane, 12-14 mu.

Such is the original description of this distinctly American species. H. varneyi Rex should differ in having spirals seven or eight, and spore only 6.25 mu. Mr. Lister, who has compared types of both species, declares them the same! The present writer has been unable to secure authentic specimens.

Pennsylvania.

7. HEMITRICHIA INTORTA List.

1891. Hemiarcyria intorta Lister, Jour. Bot., p. 268. 1891. Hemiarcyria longifila Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 396. 1894. Hemitrichia intorta List., Mycetozoa, p. 176.

Sporangia gregarious, globose-turbinate or pyriform, golden-yellow, stipitate; peridium thin, translucent, shining, opening at the summit irregularly, leaving a funnel-shaped receptacle below; stipe dark red brown, solid, rugulose; capillitium of threads sparingly branched, but looped and doubled upon themselves and constantly intertwisted, orange-yellow, 3-4 mu in diameter, with spirals four, sparingly spinulose, even and regular, the longitudinal striae conspicuous; spores in mass concolorous, under the lens yellow, delicately warted, globose, 9-10 mu.

Concerning this species, Dr. Rex says: "Externally this species resembles H. clavata Pers., and has probably often been mistaken for it. The capillitium, however, in its structural details and habit of growth, is widely different. The partial untwisting of the loops of the capillitium by drying, after the rupture of the sporangium, causes it to be projected and elongated sometimes two or three times the length of the sporangium." Outwardly the open sporangium, by the projecting free tips, reminds one of a trichia. The capillitium is like that of H. vesparium, but less rough, and, of course, different in color.

Rare. Fairmount Park, Philadelphia; Ohio, Iowa.

8. HEMITRICHIA CLAVATA (Pers.) Rost.

PLATE III., Figs. 1, 1 b.

1794. Trichia clavata Pers., Roem. N. Bot. Mag., I., p. 90. 1873. Hemitrichia clavata Pers., Rost., Versuch, p. 14. 1875. Hemiarcyria clavata (Pers.) Rost., Mon., p. 264. 1893. Hemiarcyria ablata Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc., p. 30. 1893. Hemiarcyria funalis Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc., p. 32.

Sporangia clavate or turbinate, gregarious, scattered or crowded, yellow, olivaceous or brownish, stipitate; the peridium generally thin, evanescent above, breaking away so as to leave a more or less definite cup beneath; stipe about one-half the total height, reddish, reddish-brown, or blackish, hollow about half-way down; capillitium various, yellow or ochraceous, made up of slender threads more or less freely branched and netted, bearing four or five regular, even, spiral plates which project sharply and are generally smooth, the free extremities numerous or almost none, swollen, or simply obtuse; spore-mass concolorous, spores by transmitted light pale yellow, globose, minutely but distinctly warted, 8-9 mu.

This cosmopolitan species is generally one of the first brought in by the collector, its color and comparatively large size, 2-3 mm. high, making it conspicuous. Nevertheless, we are not able to recognize it in the descriptions of the older authors. Rostafinski quotes Schmiedel, Icones, 1776, as affording the earliest account of the species, but neither his description nor figure is definitive. Even Bulliard fails us here, and is differently interpreted by different authors. Persoon's description is none too good, but is reenforced by Fries and Rostafinski. The capillitium is variable both in the degree of smoothness presented, and the number of free ends, and the amount of branching. The spores in all specimens we have examined are remarkably constant in size and surface. In typical specimens free ends are easily discoverable, the branching forms a definite net, and the perfectly formed capillitial thread is smooth. In some American forms—developed under less favorable circumstances?—the net is less determined, the free ends are many, and the spirals minutely rough. Here may be placed H. funalis Morgan, l. c.

Widely distributed. New England to Colorado, south to Mexico.

9. HEMITRICHIA STIPITATA (Mass.) Macbr.

1889. Hemiarcyria stipitata Mass., Jour. Mic. Soc., p. 354. 1893. Hemiarcyria plumosa, Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc., p. 29.

Sporangia scattered, seldom crowded, obovoid or turbinate, olivaceous yellow, stipitate; the peridium smooth without, granulose within, evanescent above, persisting as a funnel-shaped cup below; the stipe long, reddish or blackish, rising from a small hypothallus; capillitium of threads 5-6 mu thick, very much branched, forming a dense net, free ends none, or not evident; the sculpture as in H. clavata, smooth and regular; spore-mass yellow; spores by transmitted light yellow, minutely warted, 7-8 mu.

This form corresponds in nearly every respect with H. clavata, except in the structure of the capillitium. The color is rather ochraceous, dirty yellow, and the stipe is proportionally longer and darker, but the form of the net is positive and gives to the species a decidedly striking and unique appearance, so that it may be recognized by the naked eye. It looks like an arcyria and for this reason Professor Morgan said H. plumosa. Lister regards it as the same as our number 8.

Common. Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and west; south to Mexico.

10. HEMITRICHIA MONTANA Morgan.

Sporangia scattered or gregarious more or less closely, globose, whitish, sessile or very short stipitate; the peridium opaque, dull white, persistent below; capillitium deep yellow, the threads abundantly branched, forming a compact network, 7 mu wide, bearing spirals five or six, uneven and irregular, or anon interrupted, conspicuously spinulose or warted, free tips not lacking, generally inflated; spore-mass yellow, spores by transmitted light pale, nearly colorless, distinctly warted, 10 mu.

Recognizable by its peculiar pallid, sessile sporangia, as by the internal structure. Perhaps related to Hemiarcyria bucknalli Mass. Our specimens are from Mr. Morgan, of Ohio, with the statement that they were collected in the San Bernardino Mountains, California, by Mr. S. B. Parrish; collected later from Monterey south.

Common throughout south-western states to lower California.

2. Calonema Morgan.

1893. Calonema Morgan, Jour. Cin. Soc., p. 33.

Sporangia sub-globose, crowded or superimposed, irregular sessile; hypothallus none; capillitium of slender tubules, arising from the sporangium base, branched, marked with branching veins in an irregular reticulation, and terminating in free extremities. Spores yellow.

1. CALONEMA AUREUM Morgan.

PLATE XIII., Figs. 2, 2 a, 2 b, 2 c.

1893. Calonema aureum Morgan, l. c.

Sporangia crowded or heaped in scattered clusters; peridium thin, golden yellow, adorned with intricate radiating veinlets capillitium of threads more or less branched, attached below, free above, the surface to the very tips venulose, interrupted with rings or fragmentary spirals, the apices bulbous and obtusely conical; spore-mass yellow, spores by transmitted light bright yellow, covered by a network of interlocking plates, as in T. favoginea, globose, 14-16 mu.

A curious form, related to Hemitrichia, much as Oligonema is to Trichia. Related to both the genera first named, but distinct, in the peculiar sculpture, from Hemitrichia, and from Oligonema in that the threads are not entirely free. Professor Morgan's original determination, founded on Ohio materials is confirmed by material sent us by Professor Underwood from Alabama.

3. Trichia (Haller) Rost.

1768. Trichia Haller, Hist. Stirp. Helv., III., p. 114, in part. 1875. Trichia (Haller) Rost., Mon., p. 243.

Sporangia distinct, sessile or stipitate; capillitium of distinct elastic threads, free acuminate at each end, yellow or more rarely reddish or brown; spores generally yellow.

The trichias are easily recognized among their kind by their beautiful spirally wound, elastic capillitial threads, the elaters; these are entirely free, about 3-4 mm. in length, simple or only rarely branched, and generally acute at each extremity. The spiral bands, sometimes called taeniae, are generally very uniform in thickness, distance from each other, and pitch, and in many species are further reenforced by minute longitudinal plications running from one spiral to the next. Furthermore, the spirals may be smooth or spinulose the elater uniform throughout or enlarged betimes by nodes and swellings. Taken altogether, the trichias with the species of the genus next following exhibit the highest degree of differentiation attained by the Myxomycetes.

Most of the earlier authors, including Haller, used the generic name Trichia to cover a variety of forms. It is here used with the limits sketched by De Bary in 1859 and 1864 (Die Myxomyceten), and followed more exactly ten years later by his pupil, Rostafinski.

Key to the Species of Trichia

A. Sporangia, in typical cases at least, wholly sessile.

a. Gregarious; hypothallus none.

i. Peridium brown or reddish brown.

O Elaters smooth.

OO Spirals even, regular 1. T. inconspicua

+ Spirals irregular 2. T. contorta

+ Elaters rough, spinescent 3. T. iowensis

ii. Peridium olivaceous or yellow.

O Elaters smooth 4. T. varia

b. Hypothallus distinct; sporangia crowded; spores reticulate, banded, or netted.

i. Spore-bands pitted 6. T. persimilis

ii. Spore-bands, narrow, plain 7. T. favoginea

iii. Spores covered by a delicate net 5. T. scabra

B. Sporangia stipitate.

a. Hypothallus distinct 8. T. verrucosa

b. Hypothallus none; peridium checkered with pale reticulations.

i. Brownish red or black 10. T. botrytis

ii. Olivaceous.

O Elaters smooth 11. T. subfusca

OO Elaters rough 12. T. erecta

c. Peridium plain, shining 13. T. decipiens

d. Peridium plain, dull black 14. T. lateritia

1. TRICHIA INCONSPICUA Rostafinski.

PLATE III., Figs. 5, 5 a, 5 b.

1875. Trichia inconspicua Rost., Mon., p. 259.

Sporangia gregarious or crowded, small, spherical, ellipsoidal or arcuate, brown or reddish brown, sessile; hypothallus none; capillitium dull, dark, ochraceous, the elaters long, slender, even, about 3 mu wide, the spirals three or four rather closely wound, the apices attenuate, acute, sometimes turned to one side; spore-mass concolorous, spores pale ochraceous, minutely but distinctly warted, 10-12 mu.

One of the smallest of the Trichiae, not uncommon in the Mississippi valley on decaying fallen stems of Populus—sp. Distinguished at sight from all except No. 3 following, by its small size and brown color. Under the lens the long, delicate, finely sculptured capillitial threads, with fine tapering threads are distinctive.

New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska; Black Hills, South Dakota; Toronto.

2. TRICHIA CONTORTA (Ditmar) Rost.

PLATE XIII., Figs. 7, 7 a.

1811. Lycogala contortum Ditmar, Sturm, Deutsch. Fl., III., Tab. 5. 1872. Trichia reniformis Peck, Rep. N. Y. Mus., XXVI., p. 74. 1875. Trichia contorta Rost., Mon., p. 259.

Sporangia gregarious, or crowded, small, ellipsoid or reniform, arcuate, dark red brown, sessile; hypothallus none; capillitial mass ochraceous or dull yellow, the elaters few, irregular, the spirals uneven, irregular, often projecting and thin, though generally flat or obscure, the apices more or less swollen, ending in a curved tip; spore-mass concolorous, spores beneath the lens bright yellow, papillose, 10-12 mu.

This species resembles the preceding in color, but is of less aggregate habit, and the sporangia are more plasmodiocarpous, reniform, arcuate, etc. The capillitium is also distinctive, the sculpture irregular, uneven with general lack of symmetry. Our description is made up from specimens of T. reniformis Peck, which appears to be the American form of Rostafinski's species.

Rare. New York, Montana?

3. TRICHIA IOWENSIS Macbr.

PLATE III., Figs. 3, 3 a, 3 b; PLATE X., Fig. 5.

1892. Trichia iowensis Macbr., Ia., Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist., II., p. 133.

Sporangia sessile, gregarious, spherical or reniform, with no hypothallus, purple brown; spores and spore-mass yellow; elaters with three or four spiral bands unevenly distributed, and with occasional inflations, sparingly branched, spinulose, especially where inflated, spinules long, 3-6 mu, recurved, often bifid or trifid, especially at or near the acuminate tip; spores delicately warted, 9-11 mu.

This species occurs not rarely and is found on the bark of Populus, so far, exclusively. The sporangia are inconspicuous until opening by fissure they display the yellow spores and capillitial threads. The species is immediately recognized by its elaters, whose numerous and lengthened spinules are unlike those of any cognate form, reminding one of the capillitium of Ophiotheca. Related to the two preceding, but distinct by its spinulose capillitium.

Iowa, Missouri; Black Hills, South Dakota.

Trichia andersoni Rex carefully described by Morgan, Myx. Mi. Val., p. 38, belongs with this first group, four small species, the inconspicuous. To the present writer in each the structure seems distinct. In the herbarium a small bit of Anderson's material has rested long; but it must not be lost to sight. The species is sure to be taken again in the cool mountains, somewhere abundant; as these stretch from Alberta to far Alaska. The capillitium is very even the taeniae closely wound, the elater-ends often furcate.

4. TRICHIA VARIA (Pers.) Rost.

PLATE IV., Figs. 3, 3 a, 3 b.

1791. Stemonitis varia Pers., Gmel., Syst. Nat., II., 1470. 1794. Trichia varia Pers., Roem. Neu. Mag. Bot., I., p. 90. 1829. Trichia varia (Pers.) Fries, Syst. Myc., III., p. 188. 1875. Trichia varia (Pers.) Rost., Mon., p. 251.

Sporangia gregarious or sometimes closely crowded, globose, obovoid, or irregularly globoid, yellowish or ochraceous, shining, sessile, or with a short black stipe; hypothallus none; capillitium of rather long, simple, or more rarely branched elaters, 4-5 mu, wide, marked by irregular spirals generally only two, prominent and narrow and in places remote, the apices acute, about twice the elater diameter; spore-mass yellow, spores by transmitted light dull yellow, 12-14 mu, delicately verruculose, guttulate.

A very common species, very variable in form, stipitate forms occuring anon beside those which are irregular and sessile. According to Rostafinski the stipitate phase constitutes the T. nigripes of Persoon and other authors. The capillitium is, however, characteristic throughout. The two spiral bands wind loosely and irregularly and present an elater unlike anything else in the group except the same structure in T. contorta, but here the elater is narrow and the sculpture obscure. Since the specific distinctions are purely microscopic, the synonymy beyond Rostafinski is mainly conjectural. It is possible that Fries properly applied the name.

Common. Maine to Oregon and California, and south to Arkansas and Alabama.

5. TRICHIA SCABRA Rost.

PLATE IV., Figs. 4, 4 a, 4 b.

1875. Trichia scabra Rost., Mon., p. 258.

Sporangia closely crowded upon a well-developed hypothallus, regular, globose or turbinate-globose, orange or golden brown, smooth, shining; capillitial mass clear, golden yellow, or sometimes rusty orange, the elaters simple, long, 4-5 mu in width, the spirals three or four, closely wound, spinulose, even and regular, the apices short, acuminate; spore-mass concolorous, under the lens spores yellow, covered by a delicate fine-meshed network, or simply spinulose under low power, 10-12 mu.

Generally a well-marked species, easily recognized by its regular but roughened capillitial threads. Under a 1-12 objective the spores are also diagnostic. To the unaided eye it resembles the next species in both color and habit. Fructifications two inches or more in length and half as wide are not infrequent on the lower side of fallen stems in forests of deciduous trees. The plasmodium is white.

Not uncommon. Maine to Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and south to Missouri and Arkansas.

6. TRICHIA PERSIMILIS Karst.

PLATE IV., Figs. 1, 1 a, 1 b, 1 c; 6, 6 a, 6 b, 6 c, 6 d.

1868. Trichia persimilis Karst., Not. Saellsk. Fenn. Foerh. IX., p. 353. 1869. Trichia affinis De Bary, Fuckel, Sym. Myc., p. 336. 1875. Trichia jackii Rost., Mon., p. 258. 1877. Trichia abrupta Cke., Myxom. U. S. p. 404. 1878. Trichia proximella Karst., Myc. Fenn., IV., p. 139.

Sporangia globose or obovoid or irregularly spherical, shining, golden yellow to tawny, anon iridescent with metallic lustre, sessile; hypothallus thin, but usually very distinct; capillitial mass ochraceous or tawny yellow, the elaters long, even, about 4 mu wide, the spirals four, more or less spinulose, generally joined by longitudinal ridges, the apices short, tapering regularly, anon bifurcate; spore-mass concolorous, spores by transmitted light bright yellow, marked by an irregular or fragmentary banded reticulation, the bands broad, flat, and pitted, 10-12 mu. Plasmodium said to be white.

This species, common throughout the northern world, is distinguished from its congener, the following, not only by the episporic character, but generally by its different peridium and more sombre colors. It never shows at maturity the brilliant golden yellow fluff that hangs in masses about the open and empty vases of T. favoginea, a fact not unnoted by Batsch, and rendering his figure and description so far determinable.

The episporic network shows all degrees of perfection or imperfection, and the elater also varies somewhat both in the apices and distinctness of longitudinal striae. The several synonyms listed seem to have taken origin in a recognition of some of the more pronounced variations. In any event the American form T. abrupta Cke., with bifid apices, belongs here, and European specimens seem to show the identity of forms described by Karsten and De Bary.

Not rare. New England, Canada, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Alabama, Missouri, and west.

7. TRICHIA FAVOGINEA (Batsch) Pers.

PLATE IV., Figs. 5, 5 a, 5 b.

1786. Lycoperdon favogineum Batsch, Elench. Fung., p. 257, Fig 173, a, b. 1791. Sphaerocarpus chrysospermus Bull., Cham. de Fr., Tab. 417, Fig. 4. 1794. Trichia favoginea (Batsch) Pers., Roem. N. Mag. Bot., I., p. 90. 1875. Trichia chrysosperma (Bull.) Rost., Mon., p. 255.

Sporangia closely crowded, cylindric or prismatic by mutual pressure, obovoid, sessile, olivaceous yellow, smooth and shining; the peridium thin, opening above somewhat stellately, persistent; capillitium golden yellow, escaping entirely from the peridia, and forming woolly masses above them, the threads long, even, beautifully sculptured, bearing spirals about four, usually smooth and connected by light longitudinal ridges, the apices short tapering, about equal to the width of the elater, 6-7 mu; spores concolorous, by transmitted light paler, but still bright yellow, the episporic net conspicuous, the bands narrow and high, not pitted nor fragmentary, in form irregularly globose, 12-14 mu. Plasmodium yellow.

A common and beautiful species recognizable at sight, after the peridia break, by the aggregate capillitium constantly in evidence above the abandoned vasiform peridia. The figures of Bulliard are unsatisfactory, although the description he gives and the name he suggests, still current, may lead us to concede that he had our species before him. The spores are larger than in T. persimilis, and the episporic net different, the "border" wider. The plasmodium in the latitude of Iowa not uncommon in woods in June, after emerging passes into fruit in the laboratory in about forty-eight hours, and the rupture of the peridia follows presently. The hypothallus is quite distinct, extra-marginal, and in substance like to the peridial wall.

Not rare. Throughout the northern forests, Maine to Washington and Oregon, south to Alabama, Louisiana, Mexico.

8. TRICHIA VERRUCOSA Berk.

1860. Trichia verrucosa, Fl. Tasm., II., p. 269.

Sporangia pyriform, or obovoid, shining, ochraceous from the color of the contents, stipitate, more or less botryoid or connate; stipe twice the height of the spore-case, reddish brown, simple or consolidated with others, weak, inclined, or procumbent; hypothallus distinct; spore-mass ochraceous yellow, the elaters simple, with smooth tapering points, with spirals three or four, the spores beautifully and strongly reticulate, after the manner of the spores in the species preceding, with the meshes generally complete and always large, quite variable in size 12-16 mu.

Rostafinski quotes the species (teste Lister) from Chile. Specimens in the herbarium of the State University of Iowa are from Jalapa, Mexico, collected by Mr. C. L. Smith. The species may be therefore expected in the southern United States. Berkeley described it from Tasmania. T. superba Mass, from description would seen to be the same thing.

9. TRICHIA PULCHELLA Rex.

1893. Trichia pulchella Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 366.

Sporangia solitary or in groups of four or five, bright vitelline yellow, sessile; the peridium thin, transparent, opening irregularly above; hypothallus none; capillitium bright yellow, not emergent, the threads narrow, 3-4 mu, wound with spirals three or four, more or less irregular, smooth, longitudinal ridges wanting, the apices rather long, acuminate, about twice the diameter of the elater, or anon clavate or even globose, bulbose at the tip and furnished with several stout spines; spore-mass concolorous; under the lens spores colorless, marked by a very feebly developed reticulation of T. persimilis type, but the bands narrow and, as shown by the narrow "border," low, meshes few and often imperfect, globose or sub-globose, about 12 mu.

The episporic characters of this species ally it to T. persimilis most nearly. The reticulations are possibly not more divergent from the typical form of that species than are the same features in some other forms there included. But in the present case, added to the episporic sculpture, we must reckon the peculiar capillitial thread, unlike that seen in either of the chrysospermatous forms, and the gregarious habit without hypothallus. These peculiarities seemed to Dr. Rex distinctive, and as they appear constant they may be left to separate the species.

10. TRICHIA BOTRYTIS Persoon.

PLATE XIII., Figs. 8, 8 a.

1791. Stemonitis botrytis Pers., Gmel., Syst. Nat., II., 1468. 1794. Trichia botrytis Pers., Roem. N. Mag. Bot., I., p. 89. 1803. Sphaerocarpus fragilis Sowerby, Eng. Fung., I., p. 279. 1829. Trichia pyriformis Fries, Syst. Myc., III., p. 184. 1875. Trichia fragilis (Sow.) Rost., Mon., p. 246.

Sporangia gregarious, scattered, sometimes combined in clusters, pyriform or turbinate, stipitate, red-purple or, ochraceous-brown the peridium breaking up irregularly, the dehiscence sometimes prefigured by pale reticulations on the surface; stipe solid, single, or united in clusters of five or more together, dark-colored, red or purple-brown, opaque; capillitium orange, ochraceous yellow, or even reddish brown, the threads simple or rarely branched, long-fusiform, about 4 mu thick at the centre, tapering gradually to the long accuminate, apiculate tips, spirals three or four, even, smooth, rather closely wound and traceable almost to the apex; spores concolorous in mass, under the lens pale, globose, more or less closely minutely warted but not reticulate, 10-12 mu.

A species remarkable for its variations in color. More commonly the unopened sporangia are opaque brown, by reason of a dense outer wall, and more frequently simple, or if compound, show but two or three united. The reddish variety, vinous or scarlet-black in color, is remarkably fasciate. Some clusters show twenty or more stipitate, globose sporangia, conjoined by their distinct but coherent stems. In such fruitings the sporangia are small, .5 mm. In the brown sporangia the dehiscence, as stated, is often definitely prefigured; in the multiple, red, obscurely, if at all. As presented in collections from the eastern United States, the two forms might well be disjoined. Persoon, however, discussed both together and so they remain.

Saccardo includes Craterium floriforme Schw. here.

By the descriptions of the earlier authors it is impossible to distinguish this from H. vesparium on the one hand, and T. decipiens on the other. T. botrytis Pers., l. c., gives us first secure foothold. Fries discards Persoon's appellation as unsuitable and improperly applied, and takes up what he deems an older specific designation, T. pyriformis Leers. But Rostafinski is certain Leers had A. punicea in mind, and that other early names are equally ill-applied. Rostafinski rejects Persoon's names simply as not pertinent in every case. Massee examined the specimens of Leveille, and finds them belonging here; but see our No. 14, seq.

Not common, but with wide range. Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado; Toronto.

11. TRICHIA SUBFUSCA Rex.

1890. Trichia subfusca Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 192.

Sporangia gregarious, scattered, dull tawny brown, shading to dark brown below, about 1/2 mm. in diameter, globose, stipitate; stipe short, about equal to the sporangium, stout, brown or brownish black, rugulose, solid; capillitial mass bright straw color; the elaters long cylindrical, 3-4 mu wide, adorned with spirals four, which wind unevenly, are perfectly smooth, and terminate in abrupt tips about twice the diameter of the elater; spores yellow, under the lens yellow, minutely and closely warted, globose, 12 mu.

The spores of this species resemble closely those of the preceding, but the sporangium is at sight different in appearance and proportions and the capillitium not the same at all. The elaters are never fusiform, the apices always abrupt in their acumination, and the sculpture irregular and uneven. In form the elater resembles that of T. scabra. The description is drawn from specimens, N. A. F., 2495, with which, however, specimens received from Dr. Rex and later collected exactly correspond.

The elaters of uniform diameter, the apices abruptly narrowed to a blunt point, turned to one side, will serve to distinguish this species from the whole T. botrytis group, some forms of which it outwardly resembles.

We have beautiful specimens from the shores of Puget Sound.

New York.

12. TRICHIA ERECTA Rex.

1890. Trichia erecta Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 193.

Sporangia gregarious, often in clusters of two or three together, but generally single, nut-brown, checkered with broad, conspicuous yellow dehiscence bands, globose, 1/2 mm. wide, stipitate, stipe double the sporangium, dark brown, solid; capillitial mass bright yellow, the elaters cylindric, 3-4 mu wide, terminating in apices short and smooth, adorned with spirals, four, coarsely spinulose, winding unevenly or even branching and so united to one another! spore-mass yellow, spores by transmitted light pale, globose, minutely warted, 12 mu.

Distinguished at sight by the peculiarly mottled peridium. T. botrytis in its ochraceous forms sometimes shows tendency to the same thing, but the checkered surface is here conspicuous. The elaters resemble those of the preceding form, but are remarkably rough.

Rare. Adirondacks, New York.

13. TRICHIA DECIPIENS (Pers.) Macbr.

PLATE IV., Figs. 2, 2 a, 2 b.

1793. Lycoperdon pusillum Hedwig, Abh., I., p. 35, Tab. iii., Fig. 2. 1795. Arcyria decipiens Pers., Ust. Ann. Bot., XV., p. 35. 1796. Trichia fallax Pers., Obs. Myc., I., p. 59, etc.

Sporangia gregarious, sometimes closely so, sometimes scattered, turbinate, shining olive or olivaceous brown, stipitate; stipe generally elongate, concolorous above, dark brown below, hollow, i. e. filled with spore-like cells; capillitial mass yellowish or olivaceous yellow, the elaters perfectly smooth, long fusiform, tapering gradually to the long, slender taeniate apices, simple or often branched, adorned with spirals three, which wind evenly but somewhat distantly; spore-mass olivaceous or ochraceous, spores under the lens, pale, minutely delicately reticulate, 10-12 mu.

One of our largest and most common species, in form and size resembling H. clavata, but immediately distinguished by its color. The capillitium is like that of T. botrytis, but differs in the more open sculpture and the longer and smoother unwound tips. The episporic net is a constant character in all the specimens examined. This feature reminds of T. scabra.

This is, of course, our familiar T. fallax of all authors from Persoon down. The earliest unmistakable reference to this species is Hedwig, l. c. But Batsch, in 1789, had used the same combination to describe a real puff-ball, so that Hedwig's name was already a synonym. The specific name here adopted is next in point of priority, although Persoon discarded it the year following, substituting fallax, because he had mistaken the genus.

Not rare. New England, Toronto; west to the Black Hills and Washington, Oregon, California, south to the Carolinas and Kansas; Jalapa, Mexico.

14. TRICHIA LATERITIA Lev.

1846. Trichia lateritia Lev., Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot., 3 V., p. 167. 1875. Trichia lateritia Lev., Rost., Mon., p. 250. 1892. Trichia fragilis (Sow.) Rost., Mass., Mon., p. 176. 1894. Trichia botrytis Pers. var. lateritia (Lev.) List., Mon., p. 171. 1899. Trichia botrytis Pers., Macbr., N. A. S., p. 216. 1911. Trichia botrytis Pers. var. lateritia (Lev.) List., Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 217.

Sporangia more or less closely gregarious, (a) simple globose-turbinate, dull black when dry, when moist generally with a vinous tinge, 1 mm. in diameter, stipitate. The stipe concolorous, rigid, erect, simple even, 2-6 mm., or (b) multiple, several sporangia united by their pale brown or reddish-brown, striate, weak, closely adherent or united stems; hypothallus small or none; capillitial-mass bright brick-red cut-off from the stem-cavity, such as may be, and enclosed by a thick, firm opaque peridium, which opens above in fragmental or petaloid lobes, leaving a craterium-like cup below, to persist in flower-like fashion long after the contents have blown away; elaters fusiform, extremely long, to 50 mu; about 5 mu in width at the widest (middle) point, long acuminate, adorned with usually four clean-cut even, regular, taeniae, uniformly spaced and carried forward on the progressive acumination, almost to the smooth, straight spine-like point; spores in mass brick-red, by transmitted light, orange-brown almost smooth, 10-12 mu.

This showy and remarkable species is set out from T. botrytis Pers. with which it has been more or less closely associated, for several reasons. In the first place, it is easily recognized in the field, by its size, color, and structure. Often simple throughout a colony entire, nevertheless where the vegetative development has been stronger, simple and multiple fructifications may stand side by side, but the odd fasciation is generally limited to few sporangia, perhaps three or four, or at most, half a dozen. These fasciate forms generally shorter, or less erect. The elaters, so far as our observation goes, are the longest in the genus notable for their beautiful symmetry. The spores are larger than in the red forms of T. botrytis as usually presented, smoother and of different color.

We have also a geographic limitation. Taken to Paris first from southern Chile, it promises to be a Pacific coast species, found as it now has been in North America from San Diego, to Vancouver. In a deep forest near Monterey, California, a half-buried log showed one colony a meter in length and from six to twelve centimetres in width, hundreds of sporangia, each by gentlest explosion opening to display its tuft of bright-tinted wool, a patch of color visible from far.

4. Oligonema.

1875. Oligonema Rost., Mon., p. 291.

Sporangia distinct, small, generally crowded together and superimposed; hypothallus none; capillitium scanty, the sculpture rudimentary and imperfect, scattered rings or mere roughenings, sometimes imperfect or faint spirals; spores yellow.

The oligonemas are simply degenerate Trichiae, and show the vagaries usually to be noted in a passing type. They are difficult to define, and the species are indeed variable. Those here listed seem to offer constant features throughout our range.

Key to Species of Oligonema

A. Spores reticulate.

a. Sporangia in broad effused patches 2. O. brevifilum

b. Sporangia in small heaped clusters.

i. Elaters roughened, no distinct rings or spirals 1. O. flavidum

ii. Elaters with scattered rings; sometimes faint spirals 3. O. nitens

B. Spores warted 4. O. fulvum

1. OLIGONEMA FLAVIDUM (Peck) Mass.

1874. Perichaena flavida Peck, Rep. N. Y. Mus., p. 76. 1892. Oligonema flavidum (Peck) Mass., Mon., p. 171.

Sporangia crowded and superimposed, sessile in small masses or clusters 1 cm. or less, bright yellow, shining, the peridium thin but opaque, yellow; capillitium of long, slender tubules usually simple, anon branched, even, or with an occasional inflation, the sculpture confined to warts or small, distinct spinules, roughening more or less conspicuously the entire surface, the apices generally obtuse, anon apiculate; spore-mass yellow, spores under the lens pale yellow, irregularly globose, beautifully reticulate, the meshes large and few, as in Trichia favoginea, 12-14 mu.

This species is marked by its capillitium, which is abundant for the present genus. The threads are longer than in any other species, and not infrequently branched, smooth, or more commonly, very distinctly minutely spinulose throughout, no trace of rings or relief sculpture of any sort, the spirals, that are to be expected, very imperfect, if discernible at all. In habit the species resembles O. nitens, but the colonies are much larger, and the sporangia higher and larger, attaining 1 mm.

New England to Iowa and Nebraska; south to Alabama and Louisiana. Toronto; Miss Currie.

2. OLIGONEMA BREVIFILUM Peck.

PLATE XX., Figs. 5, 5 a.

1878. Oligonema brevifila Peck, Rep. N. Y, Mus., p. 42.

Sporangia small, cylindric, dull ochraceous-yellow, sessile closely crowded, sometimes superimposed, forming large, effused patches several centimetres in extent; capillitium exceedingly scant, consisting of nothing more than a few minute threads, very short, only three or four times the diameter of the spore, smooth, or without any definable sculpture, ochraceous; spore-mass dark ochraceous, under the lens the spores are brighter, marked with reticulations much as in other species of the genus, 10-12 mu.

Probably a variety of our No. 1, but constantly collected.

Separate, however, from the following also in color and habit. To the naked eye the fructification suggests Trichia persimilis; the color much the same, and the sporangia similarly congested. The peculiarly rudimentary condition of the capillitium is apparently also constant. Iowa specimens accord perfectly with those from New York.

Rare. New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Iowa, Missouri, Oregon, Washington, California; Vancouver Island.

3. OLIGONEMA NITENS (Lib.) Rost.

PLATE II., Figs. 8, 8 a, 8 b.

1834. Trichia nitens Lib. Pl. Cr. Ard., III., No. 227. 1875. Oligonema nitens (Lib.) Rost., Mon., p. 291. 1883. Trichia pusilla Schroet., Kr. Fl. Schl., III., p. 114.

Sporangia gathered in small, heaped clusters, irregularly spherical, bright straw-color, or yellow, sessile, superimposed, the peridium thin, smooth, shining; capillitium of short elaters, simple or branched, smooth, adorned with an occasional projecting ring, often with faint spiral sculpture spreading especially toward the apices, which are blunt or anon acute, the point sometimes flexed or bent to one side, never very long; spore-mass bright yellow, spores globose, beautifully reticulate, 12-14 mu.

Readily recognized at sight by its heaped, shining, or glistening sporangia. The capillitial threads are further definitive, and serve to distinguish it from everything else.

The range is wide, probably coextensive with the forests of the country. Specimens are before us from New England, Canada, Montana, and all intervening regions, and south to the Gulf of Mexico; California, Nevada,—Prof. Bethel. Yosemite, shores of Mirror Lake!

4. OLIGONEMA FULVUM Morgan.

1893. Oligonema fulvum Morgan, Jour. Cin. Soc., p. 42.

Sporangia large, sub-globose, sessile, or crowded, more or less regular; the peridium tawny yellow, or olivaceous, very thin and fragile, iridescent; mass of capillitium and spores tawny-yellow, elaters simple or sometimes branched, very short, sometimes with thicker swollen portions, the surface marked with low smooth spirals, in places faint and obsolete, the extremities rounded and obtuse, usually with a minute apiculus; spores globose, minutely warted, 10-13 mu.

This species may be recognized by its tawny, irregular, more or less crowded sporangia. Under the lens the warted, not reticulate, spores are diagnostic. The elaters are quite constantly marked by imperfect spirals.

Our specimens are from the author of the species, and so far there are none reported from outside Ohio.

FOOTNOTES:

[15] For other crucifers, see Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, xxi, pp. 76-8.

[16] See in reference to this whole matter, Myxomycetenstudien by E. Jahn, No. 7, Ceratiomyxa, 1908. See also Olive, Trans. Wis. Acad. of Sci. Arts and Letters, Vol. xv, pl. II, p. 771.

[17] See Jahn, Myxomyceten Studien No. 8, Berlin 1911.

[18] In discussing these species the reader may be referred to Professor Harper's study of cytology, Bot. Gazette, vol. XXX., p. 217. It is probable that in all these aethalioid forms the effect of disturbance, transfer to laboratory, is likely to be quite pronounced. Giant spores are often seen, doubtless due to arrested cleavage in the procedure described by Dr. Harper: a giant spore is penultimate or antepenultimate in series; should, on this theory, occasionally, at least, show more than one nucleus.

[19] Prior to Persoon the physarums were variously referred: Lycoperdon, Sphaerocarpus, Trichia, etc. It seems unnecessary to quote the synonymy further here.

[20] Persoon's first-named species is P. aureum; see Roemer Neu. Mag. f. d. Bot., I., p. 88. 1794.

[21] Fries (Sum. Veg. Scand., p. 454) described the new genus in the following words: Tilmadoche. Fr. Physari spec. S. M. Peridium simplex, tenerrimum (Angioridii) irregulariter rumpens. Capillitium intertexto-compactum, a peridio solutum liberum, sporisque inspersis fuscis. Columella o.

1. T. leucophaea. Fr.

2. T. soluta. (Schum.)

3. T. cernua. (Schum.)

[22] See also Inaug. Diss., H. Roenn, Schr. d. Naturw. Ver. f. Schl. Holst., XV., Hpt. I., p. 55, 1911.

[23] Inasmuch as there has been decided difference of opinion in reference to this particular species,—all judges readers of the same original description,—it has seemed wise to submit an English translation from the celebrated Monograph loc. cit.

"24. Physarum diderma Rfski.

"Sporangia sessile, globose, adnate by a narrow base, white. Peridium double; the outer thick, strongly calcareous, very distinctly set off from the thin inner one by an air-filled space; the calcareous nodules many, angular, loosely developed within to form a pseudo-columella; spores dark violet, spinescent, 9.2-10 in diameter.

"Opis. This physarum looks extremely like a diderma.

"The sporangia stand either aggregated or bunched together in heaps of five to twelve, adnate to the hypothallus by a narrow base, etc."

Massee, Mon., p. 304, translated this description, but misunderstood what is said of the columella and is inclined to think the author did not know a diderma when he saw one; which is pretentious, to say the least!

[24] See also, after all our trouble, Jour. Bot., LVII., p. 106.

[25] See Fries, Syst. Myc., Vol. III., pp. 130, 137, Rost., Mon., p. 127, and Rep. N. Y. State Mus., XXXI., p. 55.

[26] It would seem that M. Massee would have written T. reniformis, were this authentic.

[27] For further synonymy, see under P. auriscalpium, No. 49.

[28] Robt. E. Fries, Ofvers. K. Vetens. Akad. Forh., 1899, No. 3, p. 225.

[29] The Polish author wrote Tilmadoche instead of Physarum in each case cited.

[30] Forms cited are chiefly those likely to be found in our neighboring tropics, West Indies, etc.

[31] These little structures have a fairly architectural appearance and may be called trabecules,—trabeculae, little beams.

[32] Dr. Cooke, who used the microscope, applied the Monograph description to British forms occurring on leaves; proceeded further and found the same situation in New York. Mr. Massee gives the species wide range with spores 8-10 mu; average 9 mu; only a fraction too large; evidently none 12-15 mu.

[33] If a sporangium of L. tigrinum be mounted in water and treated to weak solution of hydro-chloric acid we may easily discover that the crystals, which so wonderfully adorn the outer wall in this and other species, consist, in part at least, of calcium carbonate. We may also discover that in the case before us the crystal or scale lies indeed enclosed in a filmy sac of organic origin, and that could we have seen the outer peridium as it came to form, we might probably have found it made up largely of an ectosarcous foam in whose cavities the excreted calcium found place for tabulate crystallization. In other species listed, conditions are different, and the crystals assume a different shape. The phrase "bicarbonate of lime" quoted in this connection in the former edition of this work from Mr. Massee's Monograph, etc., is not clear.

[34] Doubtless immature; v. Mitteil. Naturwiss. Gesell. Wintert., VI., p. 64, Lister quoted by Schinz.

[35] Vid. Mycologia, N. Y., Vol. IX., p. 328.

[36] See Addenda, d, p. 282 following.

[37] In the Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 158, is cited Stemonitis virginiensis Rex as a synonym of this variety. By reference to p. 163 of the present volume the Virginian stemonitis is left as Rex assigned it, and if the present variety be synonymous, it should be quoted there. The treatment of the species C. nigra in the second edition does not establish such fact, nor with three varieties make for any increasing clearness.

[38] It had seemed less necessary to retain the classic orthography in this instance since De Bary and Rostafinski both use Diachea. But modern scholarship is nothing if not meticulous; it is the fashion in Latin still to keep the digraph, even to the vexation of all men. In the same way when Bulliard wrote leucopodia, 'white stockings', he doubtless meant to be exact.

[39] For this citation we are indebted to Mr. Hugo Bilgram.



ADDENDA

a. This volume is as we see, a descriptive list of the various forms of the Myxomycetes in so far as these have come to the personal notice of the writer.

Each form is designated, as is usual in discussing objects of the sort, by a particular binomial name, followed, in abbreviated form, by the name of the student or author who in describing the form in question used the combination. Thus Stemonitis splendens was first described by Rostafinski, and the name he thus used is applicable to the form he described, wherever found, and to nothing else.

The proper naming of any specimen would thus appear to be a very simple matter. Such, however, is often not the case, particularly where we are concerned with species long familiar to science. Such often have received, at different times, and at the hands of the same author, or certainly of different authors, different names, given for various reasons; so that one who would refer to, or discuss, a single specimen to-day finds himself often in great uncertainty, confronted by a multitude of binomial combinations all thought to refer to the same particular thing.