1893.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 367 



Comatricha typhina Roth. var. heterospora n. var. 



Sporangia stipitate, cylindrical with rounded apex, or expanded 

 above and terminating in a point curved to one side, about 2 mm. 

 in height including stipes; sporangium-wall evanescent ; capillitium 

 composed of slender, sinuous threads arising from the columella, 

 branched many times at irregular intervals and joined together 

 forming a dense tangled network extending to the surface ; spores 

 purple-brown in mass when recent, fading in time, 5-6//. in diameter ; 

 epispore sculpturing complex and only evident with high amplifica- 

 tion, consisting of about 10 to 12 dark violet colored hemispherical 

 papilla? irregularly scattered over the surface between which may 

 be found a delicate reticulation of narrow raised bands forming 

 rhombic or irregular quadrilateral meshes. 



New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina. 



As this variety is seen in the herbarium, it resembles closely the 

 usual form of C. typhina. There are however, well marked and 

 positive differences. The capillitium is more slender and forms a 

 denser network which is branched and combined to the very surface, 

 giving the impression, without a close examination, of a parallel 

 peripheral network. It is generally found also in small isolated 

 clumps containing but a few closely aggregated individuals. In the 

 spores of the typical form the larger scattered papillae are also found 

 but the intervening spore surface is not reticulated but very minutely 

 verruculose. 



This variety is not a mere sport or temporary variation, but 

 occurs frequently and is constant in character, so that an observer 

 familiar with it can always identify it in the field without difficulty. 

 The spore sculpturing, however, is so evidently an evolution from 

 that of the regular form of the species, that it seems to be entitled 

 only to varietal distinction. 



Diachaea thomasii. Proceedings of Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1S92, p. 329. 



Plasmodium ochre yellow, immature sporangia pure white, mature 

 sporangia metallic, either silvery or gold-bronze in lustre, sometimes 

 iridescent, 3 to I of a mm. in diameter, scattered or grouped in 

 clusters, stipitate or sessile, globose when stipitate but flattened at 

 the base when sessile ; stipes variable, usually short but sometimes f 

 of mm. in height, thick, rugose, dull ochre yellow containing lime ; 

 columella ochre-yellow, rough, penetrating from ]- to \ the height of 

 the sporangium, varying in shape from bluntly conical to cylindrical 

 or cylindric-clavate, containing minute round or oblong ochre 



