172 ENDOSPORE^:. [TRICHIA. 



ing point, 20 to 40 /x long, the spirals continued almost to the 

 extremity ; spores orange-yellow. T. lateritia Lev., I.e. 



Hob. On wood. 



y. flavicoma : sporangia minute ; stalks brown, 0'25 mm. long ; 

 elaters blight yellow, of the form a ; spores yellow. 



Hab. On dead leaves. 



8. subfusca : stalks purple-brown, 0-5 mm. long ; elaters bright 

 yellow, of the form fi ; spores bright yellow. T. subfusca Rex, I.e. 



Hab. On wood. 



Plate LXII., B. a. var. a. genirina, sporangia, x 20 ; b, c. elaters, x 600 ; 



d. spore, x 600 (England) ; e. var. /3. lateritia, sporangia, x 20 ; /, g, li. 



elaters, x 600 ; i. spore, x 600 (Germany) ; j. var. y. Jiavicoma, sporangia, 



x 20 ; k. elater, x 600 (England) ; 1. var. d. subfusca, sporangium, x 20 ; 



vi. elater, x 600 ; n. spore, x 600 (United States). 



The various characters distinguishing the different forms of this 

 abundant species blend freely into one another, but the colour of 

 the capillitium. and spores is generally associated with a form of the 

 elaters of sufficient constancy to enable the specimens to be classed 

 under the above varieties. The three varieties given by Rostafmski 

 are distinguished by the colour of the sporangia, and of the capillitium 

 and spores when seen in mass ; but the colour of the sporangium 

 is a character which varies so widely that it cannot be taken as 

 marking constant types ; specimens in the Strassburg Herbarium 

 have sessile, black, and brittle sporangia associated with others of 

 brown and bright nut colour ; a few have long stalks, and others are 

 clustered on a common stem. In a large cultivation from a single 

 growth of plasmodium at Lyine Regis, the sporangia are either olive 

 or rosy-purple, marbled over with yellow lines of dehiscence, or almost 

 uniformly black. T. lateritia Lev., from Chili (K. 1761), here taken 

 as the type of var. /3, has nearly b]ack sporangia, but other gatherings 

 from England and the Continent, with similar characters of capillitium 

 and spores, have either black, rosy, or brown sporangia. The " simple " 

 or " botrytis " forms are mingled in most large gatherings, but the 

 " botrytis " form is most frequent in var. /3. The type specimen of 

 T. Decaisneana de Bary, in the Strassburg Herbarium, is included 

 under var. /3 ; the elaters are remarkably long, suddenly narrowing to 

 a point 10 to 15 ft in length, from a subterminal bulb ; a similar bulb 

 occurs in the middle of some of the elaters ; the occurrence of bulbous 

 swellings in the elaters is so frequent and at the same time so incon- 

 stant in many species of Trichia that it can scarcely be received as a 

 specific character. T. Carlyleana Mass, is the form a with minutely 

 spinulose spores, perhaps more nearly smooth than may be considered 

 typical. T. purpurascem Nyl., of which a iype specimen has been 

 furnished by Prof. Blytt, is also form a, and has dull purple sporangia ; 

 the spores average 10 p. diam.,and are minutely spinulose. The form y 

 flavicoma has been obtained from Moffat, and on four separate occa- 

 sions on leaves at Lyme Regis ; the sporangia are brown, or purple 

 with yellow lines of dehiscence, and the elaters bright yellow. T. sub- 

 fusca Rex, here placed as var. d of T. Botrytis, has dull brown sporangia, 

 and differs from var. y only in the ends of the elaters being shorter 

 and with more prominent spirals, a character of not sufficient import- 

 ance to give the form specific rank. 



