148 Mycetozoa of North America 



below; sporangia connected by rigid, lateral threads of the capil- 

 litium, which carry the circular discs mentioned ; sporangia usually 

 free above and below. Spores purplish brown, minutely but dis- 

 tinctly spinulose, 11-12 n diam. (Plate 10, fig. 5.) 



Type locality: New Jersey. 



Habitat: On dead wood. 



Distribution: New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, 

 Pennsylvania. 



Illustration: Macbr. N. A. Slime-Moulds ed. 2. pi. 11, figs. 



4, 4a, 5. 



The small, black groups of confluent sporangia cannot be mis- 

 taken, even in the field, where they are often on the inner side of 

 oak bark when it has sprung away from the trunk. The circular 

 discs on the lateral extensions of the capillitium are characteristic, 

 and both features are not seen in any other species of the genus 

 Stemonitis. This species is quite distinct from 5. splendens, with 

 which it has been confused, although some gatherings of the latter 

 species resemble it in the open, rigid capillitium of the free spo- 

 rangia. It seems to be a link, connecting the genera Stemonitis and 

 Aniaiirochaete, but the distinct sporangia place it in Stemonitis. 

 The former confusion about the species leaves some records 

 doubtful, and they have not been included in the distribution. 

 The only certain collections that I know of are by Ellis (4) in 

 New Jersey; Palmer (1) in southeastern Pennsylvania; myself 

 and associates (8) on Long Island; and the material collected at 

 Hillsborough, North Carolina, (Curtis 419, B. M. 935; N. Y. B. G. 

 11753) named Lachnobolus crihrosus Fries, and described by Lister 

 as Stemonitis splendens var. confluens. These indicate a limited 

 range of distribution in North America, with the possibility that 

 European records are also doubtful. 



6. Stemonitis splendens Rost. Mon. 195. 1874. 



Stemonitis Morgani Peck, Bot. Gaz. 5: ii. 1880. (N. Y. B. G. no. 6539, 



authentic material.) 

 Stemonitis fenestrata Rex; Macbr. N. A. Slime-Moulds 119. 1899. 



Plasmodium white, rarely pale yellow. Total height 6 to 20 

 mm. Sporangia cylindrical, obtuse, stalked, purplish brown, 

 closely fasciculate and forming large colonies. Stalk black, shin- 

 ing, slender, 1 to 4 mm. long, rising from a silvery or purplish 

 hypothallus. Columella reaching nearly to the summit of the 



