Il8 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS 



mass umber brown ; epispores reticulated, with ten or twelve 

 meshes to the hemisphere, 5-7 /*. 



This is a beautiful, and, as it seems to us, a very distinct, 

 species. The markings on the epispore are sufficient to iden- 

 tify it. These are quite unlike anything else in the order. 

 The spores are not simply reticulate, they are banded as the 

 spores of Trichia favoginea, for example. In habit, size of 

 the sporangia, and capillitial branching, this species recalls 

 ComatricJia typhina Roth. All the sporangia examined are, 

 however, plainly Stemonitis in type, possessing the character- 

 istic superficial net. 



Virginia. 



6. STEMONITIS MORGANI Peck. 



PLATE VI., Figs. 6, 6 a, 6 c, 7, 7 a. 



1880. Stemonitis morgani Peck, Bot. Gaz., V., p. 33. 



1894. Stemonitis splendens Rost, Lister, Mycetozoa, p. 112 (in part). 



Sporangia clustered irregularly, sometimes forming patches 

 several centimetres in extent, rich purple brown in mass, cylin- 

 dric, long, 15-18 mm., stipitate ; stipe black, polished, shining, 

 rising from a common hypothallus, which extends as a thin 

 silvery film beneath the entire coloring, but does not transcend 

 its limits ; columella black, percurrent, sparingly branched ; 

 capillitium of fuscous threads, within forming a network very 

 open, the branches scarcely anastomosing until they reach the 

 surface where they form the usual net of small meshes, pretty 

 uniform in size, and presenting very few small, inconspicuous 

 peridial processes; spores brown, very minutely warted, about 



8 fJL. 



This elegant species occurs not rarely on rotten wood, usually 

 in protected situations, although sometimes on the exposed sur- 

 faces of its habitat. The sporangia attain with us unusual 

 height, sometimes 2 cm. ; plasmodia, 3-8 cm., in diameter. The 

 clear brown tufts appear in fall, marvels of graceful elegance 

 and beauty. At sight, easily recognizable by the large size and 

 rich color. In Iowa it is almost universally present on fallen 



