OLIGONEMA.] TRICHIACE^. 173 



Hab. On dead wood and leaves. Common. Orton, Leicester (B. M. 

 391) ; Lyrne Regis, Dorset (L:B.M.142) ; Leigh, Somerset (B. M. 399); 

 Glamis, Scotland (B. M. 385) ; Germany (B. M. 759) ; Poland (Strassb. 

 Herb.) ; Finland (K. 1090) ; Switzerland (B. M. 760) ; Italy (B. M. 

 758) ; Ceylon (B. M. 762) ; Australia (K. 1082) : Tasmania (K. 1759) : 

 New Zealand (K. 1098) ; Philadelphia (L:B.M.142) ; Mass., U.S.A. 

 (L:B.M.142) ; Chili (K. 1761). 



SPECIES EXCLUDED FROM THE GEXUS. 



T. Kickxii Host. = Oligonema nitens Host. 

 T. pusilla Schroet. = Oligonema nitens Host. 

 T. nana Mass. = Hemitrichia Wigandii Lister. 



Genus 34. OLIGONEMA Rostafinski, Hon., p. 291 (1875). 

 Sporangia minute, densely clustered ; capillitium scanty, of short 

 or long threads, with spiral markings indistinct or wanting ; 

 spores reticulated. 



1. 0. nitens Host., I.e., f. 198 (1875). Plasmodium? Sporangia 

 subglobose, sessile, heaped together in clusters, - 3 to 0'4 mm. 

 diam., shining, yellow or olivaceous-yellow ; sporangium-wall 

 membranous, yellow. Capillitium of short or long, cylindrical, 

 yellow elaters, 3 to 5 //, diam., with rounded or abruptly pointed 

 ends, marked with one to four irregular indistinct spiral bands, 

 which are sometimes wanting, occasionally with ring-shaped 

 thickenings and scattered spines, or spinulose. Spores yellow, 

 reticulated with narrow, rarely with broad and pitted bands, 

 11 to 16 fj. diam. ; border 0'5 to 1-5 ^ wide. Cooke, Myx. Brit., 

 fig. 198 ; Mass., Mon., p. 170. Trichia nitens Libert (non Pers.), 

 PI. Cryp. Arcl., Fasc. iii., No. 227 (1834). Cornuvia nitens Rost., 

 Yersuch, p. 15 (1873). Trichia Bavarica de Thuemen, Myc. 

 Univ., No. 1497. Oligonema Bavaricum Balf. & Berl., Sacc. 

 Syll., viL, p. 437. Perich&na flavida Peck, in Rep. N. York 

 Mus., xxvi., p. 76. Oligonema flavidum Mass., Mon., p. 171. 

 Oligonema brevifilum Peck, in Rep. N. York Mus., xxxi., p. 42 ; 

 Mass., Mon., p, 173. Oligonema minutulum Mass., in Journ. R. 

 Micr. Soc. (1889), p. 348; Mass., Mon., p. 171. Physarum Schivei- 

 nitzii Berk., in Grev., ii., p. 66; Mass., Mon., p. 311. Trichia 

 Kickxii Rost., Mon., App., p. 40. Trichia pusilla Schroet., Krypt. 

 Fl. Schles., iii., p. 114. 



Plate LXL, A. d. sporangia, x 20 ; e. elaters. x 600 ; /. spore, x 600 

 (Ardennes : Libert's type). 



This species varies in the markings on the elaters and the reticula- 

 tion of the spores ; few gatherings are exactly similar, and great 

 variety is often seen in a single sporangium ; the length of the elaters 

 in some specimens is only about 50 /*, while in others the average is 

 from five to seven times as long. A gathering from South Carolina in 

 Ravenel's collection (B. M. 960, 961) shows some sporangia with capil- 

 litium forming a network with few free ends as in Hemitrichia, while 

 others have more or less branched and free elaters. 0. nitens is allied 

 to Trichia affinis and T. persimilis, in which species similar variations 

 in spores and elaters are sometimes found in sporangia which have 



