COMATRICHA 181 



symmetrical capillitium, the soft purple-brown tints are remarkable, 

 and enable one to recognize the form at sight. 

 New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois; Rumania. 



16. COMATRICHA SUBCCESPITOSA Peck 



Rept. N. Y. State Mus. 43 : 25. 1890. 

 PI. XII, Figs. 295, 296. 



1892. Stemonitis subccespitosa (Pk.) Massee, Mon. 80. 



1894. Comatricha obtusata Preuss ex Lister, Mycetozoa 118, in part. 



1909. Comatricha persoonii Rost. var. subccespitosa Peck, ex Torrend, Fl. Myx. 



137. 

 1922. Comatricha nigra Schroet. var. subccespitosa Lister, Mycetozoa ed. 3. 142. 



Sporangia scattered or sometimes in loose clusters, cylindric, obtuse, 

 1.5-2 mm. tall, dark brown, stipitate; stipe short, one-fifth total 

 height; hypothallus minute; capillitium regular, the branching quite 

 uniformly parallel, flexuous, brown with a tinge of violet, not dense; 

 columella well defined, almost percurrent; spores brown in mass, under 

 lens dusky, nearly smooth, 8-10 fx. 



The larger spores, regular, erect form, and clustered habit separate 

 this form from others with which it will be naturally associated. 



Nova Scotia, New York, California?; Europe?. 



17. Comatricha nigra (Pers.) Schroet. 



in Cohn, Krypt. Fl. Schles. 3 (1) : 118. 1885. 

 PI. XII, Figs. 297, 298. 



1791. Stemonitis nigra Pers., in Gmel., Syst. Nat. 2 : 1467. 



1794. Stemonitis atrofusca Pers., Roemer N. Mag. Bot. 1 : 91. 



1801. Stemonitis ovata Pers., Syn. Meth. Fung. 189. 



1803. Trichia mucoriformis Schum., Enum. PI. Saell. 2 : 211. 



1829. Stemonitis oblonga Fr., Syst. Myc. 3 : 159. 



1875. Comatricha friesiana Rost., Mon.199. 



1893. Comatricha persoonii var. gracilis Cel. fil., Myx. Bohm. 50, pi. 2, figs. 4, 5. 



Sporangia scattered, ferruginous or dark brown, globose or ovoid, 

 stipitate, mostly 2-4 mm. tall; stipe long, hair-like, tapering upward, 

 black; hypothallus none; columella rapidly diminished toward the 

 top, at length dissipated; capillitium of slender flexuous threads 

 radiating horizontally, repeatedly branching and anastomosing to 

 form an intricate dense network, from the surface of which project a few 

 short hook-like peridial processes; spore-mass black; spores by trans- 

 mitted light dark violaceous, smooth or nearly so, 7-10 /a. Plasmodium 

 colorless, then white. 



This species, when typical, is easily recognized by its almost globose 

 sporangia mounted on long slender stalks. These are 2 or 3 mm. high 



