164 THE MYXOMYCETES 



which Rex regarded it as a variety. The constant, even though usually 

 incomplete surface net seems to warrant its place in Stemonitis. 

 Material distributed by Morgan as Comatricha pumila (apparently not 

 published) clearly belongs here. 



Eastern United States, Washington, Puerto Rico, Chile; Europe, 

 Japan. 



7. Stemonitis confluens Cooke & Ellis 



Grev. 5:51. 1876. 

 PL XI, Figs. 255, 256. 



1894. Stemonitis splendens Rost. var. confluens Lister, Mycet. 112. 



Sporangia fasciculate, dark fuscous, in close-set tufts on a persistent 

 hypothallus; sporangia separated at tips and usually at bases, else- 

 where confluent; total height 2-3 mm.; stipe short, sometimes indis- 

 tinct or wanting, merging into the dark columella which in turn gives 

 rise to a prolific membranously-angled capillitium, merging at bound- 

 aries into a large-meshed surface net; peridium fugacious, except where 

 capillitial branches of neighboring sporangia are joined, where it 

 persists as a disk-shaped membrane about equal to a surface mesh; 

 spores blackish in mass, purplish brown by transmitted light, minutely 

 spinulose, 12-14 fx in diameter. Plasmodium white. 



Represented in the S. U. I. herbarium only by specimens collected 

 by Ellis in New Jersey. In the Lister monograph the species is reported 

 from New England and North Carolina, as well as from the British 

 Isles, France and Germany. The description as there given makes it 

 doubtful whether the species so reported is the same as our material. 

 Meylan reports it from the Alps. 



8. Stemonitis uvifera Macbr. 



N. A. Slime-Moulds ed. 2. 161. 1922. 

 PL XI, Figs. 257, 258, 259. 



Sporangia slender, cylindrical, tufted in medium sized clusters as in 

 S. fusca, the individual sporangia more or less recumbent, fuscous*, 

 7-9 mm. high; stipe black, polished, one-fourth to one-third the total 

 height; columella not reaching sporangial tip, marked by obscure 

 spirals; capillitium of stout branches, often membranously flattened 

 at angles; peridial net with large irregular meshes and many free ends; 

 hypothallus distinct, common to all sporangia; spores nearly black in 

 mass, pale sooty brown by transmitted light, somewhat flattened and 

 often irregular in shape, distinctly verruculose over three-fourths of the 



