STEMONITIS 163 



tributed in north temperate and tropical regions to Brazil and South 

 Africa. 



5. Stemonitis virginiensis Rex 



Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila. 1891 : 391. 

 PL XI, Figs. 251, 252. 



Sporangia cylindric or elongate-ovate, gregarious in small clusters, 

 benzo-brown * to drab*, 1.5 to 6 mm. tall, sometimes more; stem 

 black, shining, 0.5-2 mm.; columella reaching apex, giving rise to a 

 delicate capillitium ; meshes of peridial net small, scarcely greater than 

 diameter of spores; hypothallus common to the cluster; spores umber- 

 brown in mass, pale lilac-brown by transmitted light, finely banded- 

 reticulate, the reticulation often incomplete, 6-8 /x in diameter. Plas- 

 modium unknown. 



Distinguished from S. fusca by the small, slender, acuminate, vina- 

 ceous sporangia growing erect in small tufts and by the slightly smaller 

 and banded spores. 



On dead wood: Virginia, Iowa, Oregon, California; central and 

 southwestern Europe. 



6. Stemonitis hyperopia Meylan 



Bull. Soc. Vaud. Sc. Nat. 52 : 97. 1918. 

 PL XI, Figs. 253, 254. 



1893. Comatricha typhina (Pers.) Rost. var. heterospora Rex, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. 

 Phila. 367. ' 



Sporangia in small, loose clusters, broadly cylindrical or somewhat 

 ovate, lilaceous brown, 2-3.5 mm. tall; stalk short, continued into the 

 slender columella; capillitium a close network of rather fine threads, 

 coalescing to form a delicate surface net over the lower half or two- 

 thirds of the sporangial surface; spores pale filaceous, the surface 

 covered by a faint, irregular reticulation with a few scattered warts, 

 5-6 ix. Plasmodium watery white. 



The English monograph includes here as var. micros por a Lister a 

 form with spores 3.5-4 /z, synonymous with Comatricha typhoides var. 

 microspora Lister 1894, and C. microspora Lister 1919. 



The reticulations are exceedingly delicate, scarcely to be distin- 

 guished without the aid of an oil immersion objective. 



The species is not commonly found in collections, but is probably 

 not uncommon, probably ordinarily determined as C. typhoides, of 



