COMATRICHA 161 



Stalk in the lower part is somewhat h'ke the stalk of C. cornea, 

 showing inner strands. 



7. Comatricha elegans (Racib.) Lister; G. Lister, Guide Brit. 

 Mycet. ed. 3. 31. 1909. 



Rostafinskia elegans Racib. Rozpr. Mat.-przyr. Akad. Umiej. Krakow 12: 78. 

 1884. 



Plasmodium water\' white (Lister). Sporangia gregarious or 

 scattered, globose or subglobose, 0.2 to 0.6 mm. diam., purplish 

 brown, stalked. Stalk black, slender, subulate, 0.6 to 1 mm. 

 high. Columella short, dividing into a few straight, primary 

 branches of the capillitium, or absent and the stalk dividing below 

 the sporangium. Capillitium of branching threads forming to- 

 wards the surface a loose tangle of slender, flexuose, anastomosing 

 threads. Spores pale violet-brown, faintly spinulose, 8-10 ju 

 diam. (Plate U, figs. 1, 2.) 



Var. pallens G. Lister, Mycetozoa ed. 3. 1-14. 192,S. 



Spores pale reddish lilac in mass. 



Type locality: Poland. 



Habitat: On dead wood. 



Distribution: California, Colorado, Georgia, Mame, Massa- 

 chusetts, *New Brunswick, *New Jersey, New York, Ohio, On- 

 tario, *Oregon, Pennsylvania, *Quebec, *South Carolina, *Vir- 

 ginia, *Washington; var. pallens, New York. 



Illustration: Lister, Mycetozoa ed. 3. pi. 124, figs. h-n. 



This species is practically the same as C. nigra except for the 

 merging of the columella or stalk into the capillitium. This shows 

 much variation in various collections, and sometimes in the same 

 colony; and the size and color of the sporangia also vary. Never- 

 theless the species is well distinguished. 



8. Comatricha cornea G. Lister & Cran; G. Lister, Jour. Bot. 55: 



121. 1917. 



Plasmodium colorless (Lister). Sporangia scattered or soli- 

 tary, stalked, globose, dark purple brown, 0.1 to 0.2 mm. diam. 

 Stalk subulate, slender, straight, 0.3 to 0.5 mm. high, dark brown 

 above, brownish yellow below where it expands into a discoid 

 hypothallus, tubular, translucent, with inner parallel fibres. 

 Columella brown, reaching from one third to one half the height 

 of the sporangium, with a small collar where it meets the stalk, 



