TUBIFERA 211 



a hand-lens in the field, when a number of the sporangia are 

 massed together. 



Family III. TUBULIN ACEAE 



Sporangia clustered, cylindrical or ellipsoid, stalked or sessile; 

 sporangial wall membranous, pale rufous, without plasmodic 

 granules; spores minutely reticulate, 4-7 ju diam. 



Sporangia cylindrical, compacted, with or without a pseudo- 



columella. 31. Tubifera 



Sporangia clustered, stalked, ellipsoid; capillitium a brush of 

 tubular threads attached above and below to the sporangial 

 wall. 32. Alwisia 



Genus 31. TUBIFERA Gmelin, Syst. Nat. 2: 1472. 1791. 



Sporangia cylindrical, crowded on a common hypothallus. 



Type species: Stemonitis ferruginosa Batsch. 



There is little resemblance in this genus to the two preceding 

 genera which have no supporting capillitial structure. In T. fer- 

 ruginosa the tendency to form a rudimentary pseudo-capillitium 

 is often seen in strands and threads from the sporangial walls; in 

 T. Casparyi this is much more pronounced, and the threads are 

 attached to a pseudo-columella. Forms have been found in 

 T. stipitata that approach the genus Alwisia, where the capillitium 

 is still further advanced. 



Sporangia without pseudo-columellae. 



Sporangia clustered on a broad hypothallus. 1. T . ferruginosa 



Sporangia clustered on a stalk-like hypothallus. 2. T. stipitata 



Sporangia with long pseudo-columellae connected by tubu- 

 lar strands to the sporangial walls. 3. T. Casparyi 



1. Tubifera ferruginosa (Batsch) Gmel. Syst. Nat. 2: 1472. 

 1791. 



Stemonitis ferruginosa Batsch, Elench. Fung. Contin, 1: 261. 1786. 



Plasmodium watery-white, changing to red, and later brown. 

 Sporangia densely crowded, cylindrical, angled by mutual pres- 

 sure, often loosely clustered or nearly free, convex, conical or 

 acuminate above, sometimes perforated, 3 mm. long, 0.4 mm. 

 broad, light reddish brown or umber, glossy or iridescent, often 

 seated on a common, spongy hypothallus, and forming brown 



