108 



ENDOSPORE.E. 



[STEMONITACE^E. 



Suboohort U.AMAUROCH^TINE^]. Sporangia single, 

 or combined into an sethalium, without deposits of lime ; capil- 

 litium and spores dark- brown or violet-brown, rarely pale. 



Order I. STEMONITACE^E. Sporangia stipitate ; sporangium- 

 wall a simple delicate membrane, often evanescent ; stalk ex- 

 tending within the sporangium as a columella from which the 

 branching threads of the capillitium take their origin. 



KEY TO THE GENERA OF STEMONITACEJE. 



Sporangium-wall evanescent. Capillitium springing from all parts 

 of the elongated columella, ultimate branchlets united to form 

 a superficial net. (15) STEMONITIS. 



Fig. 28. Stemonitis splendens Rost. 



a. Group of sporangia. Natural size. 



1). Portion of capillitium and columella. Magnified 

 42 times. 



Fig. 23. 



Sporangium-wall evanescent. Capillitium as in Stemonitis, but not 

 forming a superficial net, or only imperfectly towards the base 

 of the sporangium. (16) COMATRICHA. 



Fig. 24. Comatricha olrtiisata Preuss. 

 a. Group of sporangia. Natural size. 



&. Sporangium deprived of spores showing the 

 capillitium. Magnified 16 times. 



Sporangium-wall evanescent. Columella reaching to the apex of 

 the sporangium, capillitium springing from beneath the super- 

 ficially expanded end of the columella. (17) ENERTHENEMA. 



Fig. 2o. Enerthenema elegans Bowm. 



a. Group of sporangia. Twice the natural size. 



b. Sporangium. Magnified 16 times. 



c. Sporangium deprived of spores, showing the 



capillitium. Magnified 16 times. 



Fig. 25. 



