STEMONITIS 169 



than S. axifera but widely distributed, appearing mainly on dead 

 wood. 



New England and Pennsylvania to Washington and California; 

 Europe, Java. 



15. Stemonitis carolinensis Macbr. 



N. A. Slime-Moulds 122. 1899. 

 PI. XII, Figs. 272, 273. 



1894. Stemonitis tenerrima Curtis ex Morgan, Jour. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist. 



16 : 137, non Curtis. 

 1911. Stemonitis pallida Wingate ex Lister, Mycetozoa ed. 2. 149, in part. 



Sporangia tufted in scattered clusters, small, slender, cylindric but 

 tapering from the apex, at first brownish drab *, then ashen or purplish, 

 stipitate, 7-10 mm. tall; the stipe usually short, black and shining, 

 even; hypothallus well developed, black or very dark brown; columella 

 black, gradually diminishing, at length dissipated some distance below 

 the clavate or acuminate apex of the sporangium; capillitium dense, 

 the inner of many scarcely expanded, pallid, freely anastomosing 

 branches, the outer a net of very small meshes, often less than the 

 spores, 3-15 yu, peridial processes imperceptible; spore-mass vinaceous, 

 spores by transmitted light pale violaceous brown, very minutely 

 roughened, 6.5-7.5 ix. 



Very closely related to 5. pallida and S. herbatica, but recognizable 

 by its proportionately much more slender, taller, acuminate sporangia, 

 paler and denser capillitium and the remarkably close-meshed net. 



Not uncommon south: Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ala- 

 bama, Puerto Rico; Congo. 



16. Stemonitis pallida Wingate 



in Macbr., N. A. Slime-Moulds 123. 1899. 

 PI. XII, Figs. 274, 275. 



Sporangia gregarious or somewhat clustered, erect, cylindric, obtuse, 

 4-6 mm. tall, blackish dusky drab and then ferruginous, becoming 

 pallid, stipitate; stipe short, black, polished, rising from a thin, brown 

 or iridescent hypothallus; columella percurrent, ceasing abruptly at 

 the apex; capillitium filling the interior with abundant branches which 

 form at the surface a close-meshed net, little developed above, making 

 the apex very blunt; spores in mass dark brown, by transmitted light 

 dusky, nearly smooth, 7-8 fx. 



This species is well recognized at sight, among the fuscous forms, by 

 its scattered, erect habit. In color it is not unlike S. fusca, but has an 

 added reddish tinge. In form it is peculiar by virtue of the blunt 



