CRIBRARIA l6l 



b. Purple tints confined chiefly to the calyculus and stipe. 

 Net with nodes well expanded. 



i. Stipe short, not more than double the sporangium ; 

 net and calyculus both well developed, 



8. C. piriformis 

 ii. Stipe many times the sporangium, weak, 



14. C. languescens 

 iii. Stipe slender, sporangium copper-colored, 



15. C. cuprea 



i. CRIBRARIA ARGILLACEA Persoon. 



PLATE XII., Figs. 12, 13; PLATE XVIL, Fig. i. 



1791. Stemonitis argillacea (Pers.) Gmelin, Syst. Nat., II., p. 1469. 

 1796. Cribraria argillacea Pers., Obs. Myc., I., p. 90. 



Sporangia dull ochraceous-olivaceous, globose, nearly i mm. in 

 diameter, sessile or short stipitate, closely gregarious or crowded, 

 the peridial walls at maturity smooth, shining, except above, long 

 persistent, obscurely reticulate, with irregular thickenings which 

 at the apex at length present the appearance of an irregular 

 coarsely meshed net without nodal thickenings ; stipe very short, 

 stout, erect, reddish brown ; spore-mass ochraceous, spores by 

 transmitted light pale, spinulose, 5-6 /u,. 



This species stands just on the border line between Tubifera 

 and Cribraria. While on the one hand it possesses many char- 

 acters such as the habit, form of sporangium, which are dis- 

 tinctly Tubuline, on the other it shows in the upper peridial 

 wall definite reticulations which suggest Cribraria. In freshly 

 formed sporangia the reticulations are barely visible in the 

 crown ; later on they are more manifest, until, as spore dis- 

 persal proceeds, the Cribraria characters come out with suffi- 

 cient distinctness, and in empty sporangia the reticulations may 

 be seen to affect the entire peridial wall. The nodes are not 

 expanded. The spores are pale by transmitted light, spinulose, 

 about 6 /*. Plasmodium lead-colored. Found sometimes in 

 large patches on rotten logs of various species. Not uncom- 

 mon. Cf. Lindbladia effusa. 



New England, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, 

 Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Washington. 



M 



