112 ENDOSPORE^E. [STEMONITIS. 



Hob. On dead leaves, wood. a, ft, y. Leytonstone,Essex (L:B.M.82) ; 

 a, /3, y. Lyme Regis, Dorset (L:B.M.82); ft. Batheaston, Somerset 

 (B. M. 208) ; y. Edinburgh (K. 796) ; a. and ft. France (Paris Herb.) ; 

 Germany, a. (B. M. 623) ; y (B. M. 650) : a. Austria (B. M. 626) ; a. 

 Italy (B. M. 621); ft. Poland (Strassb. Herb.); ft. Russia (Paris Herb.) ; 

 ft. Ceylon (K. 1622) ; a. and ft. Java (K. 1591) ; ft. Australia (B. M. 

 635) ; ft. New Zealand (K. 666) ; ft. New Caledonia (Paris Herb.) ; 

 a. Tonga (L:B.M.82); a. Philadelphia (L:B.M.82) ; ft. Iowa (L:B.M. 

 82); |8. Texas (B. M. 919); ft. Nicaragua (B. M. 1002) ; a. French 

 Guiana (Paris Herb.) ; ft. Vera Cruz (B. M. 631) ; 8. Para, Brazil 

 (K. 686) ; Venezuela (Stemonitis trechispora), (B. M. 648). 



2. S. splendens Host., Mon., p. 195 (1875). Plasmodium 

 creamy white, on fir stumps, etc., maturing at the place of 

 emergence. Total height 6 to 12 mm. Sporangia cylindrical, 

 obtuse, stipitate, purplish-brown, at first closely fasciculate. 

 Stalk black, shining, slender, 1 to 4 mm. long, rising from a well- 

 developed silvery or purplish hypothallus. Columella reaching 

 to near the apex of the sporangium, rigid, sometimes weak and 

 flexuose in the upper half. Capillitiurn of purplish-brown 

 threads, the principal branches varying in intricacy, but usually 

 springing at distant intervals from the columella, at first almost 

 simple, suddenly branching to form a superficial net with 

 smooth, rounded, variously shaped meshes, 20 100 /x, wide. Spores 

 pale reddish-purple, nearly smooth, or minutely and closely 

 warted, 7 to 9 /x, diam. Stemonitis Morgani Peck, in Bot. Gaz. ? 

 v., p. 33 ; Mass., Mon., p. 86 ; Macbride, in Bull. Nat. Hist. 

 Iowa, ii., p. 142. S. maxima Mass, (non Schwein.), Mon., p. 74. 

 S. Bauerlinii Mass., Mon., p. 79 ; Rex, in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. 

 Phil. (1890), p. 36. S. Webberi Rex, I.e. (1891), p. 390. 

 S. acuminata Mass., Mon., p. 78. S. confluens Cke. & Ellis in 

 Grev., v., p. 51 ; Mass., Mon., p. 77. 



a. genuina : superficial net of capillitium complete, with 

 rounded meshes, 20 to 70 /x diam. 



/?. Webberi : sporangia stiff, erect ; superficial net complete, 

 with meshes 80 to 100 /x wide. 



y. flaccida : sporangia weak, adhering ; capillitium lax, scarcely 

 forming a superficial net ; membranous flakes of sporan- 

 gium-wall always present. 



8. eonfluens : sporangia confluent, without superficial net. 



Plate XLIIL, A. a, b, c, sporangia, a. genuina, x 2 ; d. capillitium of 

 Kostafinski's type from Texas, x 180 ; e. capillitium with membranous 

 expansion, from Rostafmski's type (Cuba), x 180; /. capillitium of type of 

 S. Morgani Peck, x 180 ; g. sporangia, y. flaccida, x 2 ; h. capillitium of 

 the same, with membranous expansion, x 180 (England) ; i. spore, x 600. 



Var. 8. corresponds with the confluent form of S.fusca ; the capilli- 

 tium forms a dense intricate network, connected with indefinite 

 branching columellas, with frequent membranous saucer-shaped ex- 

 pansions, without stalks or superficial net. The specimen from N. 

 Carolina (Curtis, 419), named Lachnobolus cribrosus (B. M. 935) appears 

 to be this variety, and the note by Fries following his description of 



