Oligonema 237 



spines. Spores yellow, 11-16 n diam., reticulate with broad and 

 pitted bands, or with narrow bands, forming an irregular net with 

 a border 0.5-1.5 n wide. 



Type locality: Belgium. 



Habitat: On dead wood, twigs, straw, turf, etc., in wet places. 



Distribution: Throughout the United States and Canada, 

 but not common. 



Illustration: Lister, Mycetozoa ed. 3. pi. 164, figs. d-f. 



There are many intergrading forms, in capillitium and spores, 

 between this species and 0. flavidum. When those characters are 

 obscure and difficult to differentiate, the character of the sporan- 

 gial wall is usually conclusive. In 0. nitens this is smooth, in 

 O. flavidum it is marked with a close reticulation or fan-like lines 

 of stippling. The sporangia of 0. nitens are usually subglobose, 

 those of 0. flavidum larger, and obovoid, piriform, or even cylindri- 

 cal, the shape depending much on mutual pressure. 



2. Oligonema flavidum Peck, Rept. N. Y. State Mus. 31: 42. 

 1879. 



Penc/jaena^z^ida Peck, Rept. N. Y. State Mus. 26: 76. 1874. (N. Y. B. G. 



710S. 7973, 12854, type material.) 

 Oligonema brevifilum Peck, Rept. N. Y. State Mus. 31: 42. 1879. (N. Y. 



B. G. nos. 7974, 12853, type material.) 



Plasmodium watery white ? (Lister). Sporangia crowded, 

 heaped, occasionally scattered, obovoid, piriform, cylindrical, or 

 subglobose, 0.5 to 0.8 mm. high, 0.2 to 0.5 mm. broad, shining 

 yellow; sporangial wall membranous, translucent yellow, marked 

 with a close reticulation or with minute, close-set thickenings 

 arranged in wavy or fan-like lines, which give the effect of delicate 

 stippling. Capillitium scanty or fairly abundant, of short or long, 

 simple or branched threads 3-5 ju diam., often showing irregular 

 swellings, without distinct bands, but marked with close lines of 

 minute warts that usually form irregular dextral spirals, winding 

 like the threads of a right-handed screw. Spores yellow, 11-14 /x 

 diam., regularly reticulate with narrow bands, which give a border 

 1 n wide, and form a net with from three to five meshes across the 

 hemisphere. 



Type locality : New York. 



Habitat: On dead wood, twigs, straw, and turf, in wet places. 



Distribution: Fairly common throughout the United States 

 and Canada. 



