COMATRICHA 167 



Lister, is not borne out by the Quebec specimens or else the colors 

 fade after maturity. The form is so close to C. pulchella that it 

 would be better to accept it as a variety as Lister had it earlier. 



15. Comatricha irregularis Rex, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila. 1891 : 

 393. 1891. (N.Y.B.G.wo^.i^^^OJ.i^^iJ, type or authentic 

 material.) 



Plasmodium white. Sporangia crowded, stalked, cylindrical, 

 2 to 8 mm. high, blackish brown. Stalks black, slender, 1 to 

 4 mm. high, rising from a membranous hypothallus. Columella 

 straight or flexuose, reaching nearly to the apex of the sporangium. 

 Capillitium a close or lax network of arched, purplish brown 

 threads, becoming more slender towards the surface, and there 

 forming an irregular net, or ending in numerous, colorless, free 

 branchlets. Spores brownish purple, often paler on one side, 

 closely spinulose, 7-10 /x diam. 



Type locality: Pennsylvania. 



Habitat: On dead wood. 



Distribution: Common in eastern continental North Amer- 

 ica; Colorado, Iowa, *Manitoba, Puerto Rico. 



Illustration: Lister, Mycetozoa ed. 3. pi. 122, figs. f-i. 



The pale character of the endings of the capillitium is often 

 seen, sometimes extending far into the capillitium, so that it 

 appears white when blown out. The capillitium with its pale 

 ends, together with the crowded habit distinguish the form from 

 cylindrical phases of C. Suksdorfii, another species with dark 

 sporangia. 



16. Comatricha longa Peck, Rept. N. Y. State Mus. 43: 70. 

 1890. 



Plasmodium bright yellow (Lister). Sporangia densely clus- 

 tered, forming fairly large colonies hanging in long tufts, stalked, 

 narrowly cylindrical, elongate and slender, flexuose or drooping, 

 2 to 5 cm. long, black; sporangial wall evanescent. Stalks very 

 slender, 1 to 3 mm. long, black, rising from a well-developed, 

 membranous hypothallus. Columella continued nearly to the 

 apex of the sporangium, tapering in thickness to very thin in the 

 upper part, where it is wavy or zigzag. Capillitium a lax network 

 of dark brown threads, the terminal branchlets extending out- 

 wards, rigid, free, forking at acute angles. Spores rather dark 



