STEMONITIS 1 1 5 



The interest attaching to this, in view of what has been said 

 about AmaurocJuzte and Brefeldia, is obvious. 



Under the lens the spores and capillitium are concolorous, 

 dark fuscous, the spores distinctly verruculose, about 12.5 /*. 



The original gathering as here described was from New Jer- 

 sey ; twenty years later Mr. Ellis was so fortunate as to find 

 again fine specimens of the species. All specimens so far are 

 from oak bark. The sporangia are very small, 3 mm. high, and 

 almost, especially when blown out, concolorous with the habitat. 



2. STEMONITIS FUSCA (Rot/i) Rostafinski. 



1787. Stemonitis fusca Roth, Rom. Mag. Boi., I., p. 26. 

 1875. Stemonitis fusca (Roth) Rost., Man., p. 193. 

 1892. Stemonitis fusca Rost., Massee, Man., p. 72. 



Sporangia tufted, generally in small clusters, the individual 

 sporangia slender, cylindric, blue black or fuscous, becoming 

 pallid as the spores are lost, stipitate ; stipe short, about one- 

 fourth the total height, black shining ; hypothallus scanty, but 

 common to all the sporangia ; columella prominent, attaining 

 almost the apex of the sporangium, freely branching to support 

 the capillitial net ; capillitium of slender dusky threads, which 

 freely anastomose to form a dense interior network, and out- 

 wardly at length combine to form a close-meshed net ; spores 

 pale, dusky violet, smooth or more or less warted, but not 

 reticulate, about 7-7.5 /* 



Rostafinski uses, as the type of what he esteems Roth's 

 species, a form with smooth spores. Such specimens are in 

 this country rare. Specimens identified by Rostafinski in 1875 

 as S. fusca have the spores slightly warted when viewed under 

 a Zeiss -^. All the dark colored, fuscous forms of North 

 America fall easily into two divisions, those having spores, as 

 in the present species, and those with spores reticulate. For 

 those with reticulate spores, Schweinitz has left us a name, his 

 specimens of 5". maxima (teste Rex) having spores of the com- 

 mon reticulate form. The species 3 and 5, as here listed, are 

 special cases. 



