186 THE MYXOMYCETES 



from all parts of the columella. Close to C. pulchella, but distinguished 

 by the elliptical or globose peridium and its persistent base. 

 Pennsylvania, Colorado; Great Britain, Switzerland. 



23. COMATRICHA TENERRIMA (Curt.) G. List. 



Guide Brit. Mycetozoa ed. 4. 39. 1919. 



1848. Stemonitis tenerrima Curt., Am. Jour. Sc. II. 6 : 352. 



1911. Comatricha pulchella (Bab.) Rost. var. tenerrima List., Mycetozoa ed. 2. 

 156. 



Sporangia scattered, stalked, ovoid or cylindrical, pale red, brown- 

 ish pink or lilaceous, equalling or shorter than the slender black stalks; 

 total height 1.5-2 mm.; columella slender, often reaching the summit 

 of the sporangium; capillitium a network of slender, flexuose, pale 

 red threads; spores pale flesh colored, minutely warted, 7-8 ix. 



On dead herbaceous stalks and dead wood. Pennsylvania, South 

 Carolina, Antigua, Brazil; Europe, Japan. 



24. Comatricha pulchella (Bab.) Rost. 



Mon. App. 27. 1876. 

 PI. XIII, Figs. 301, 302. 



1837. Stemonitis pulchella Bab., Trans. Linn. Soc. 1 : 32. 

 1875. Comatricha persoonii Rost., Mon. 201. 



Sporangia very minute, 1-1.5 mm. high, scattered, ovate to short- 

 cylindric, acuminate, pale brown or ferruginous, stipitate; stipe short, 

 black, nearly even; hypothallus none, or merely a circular base to the 

 tiny stem; columella straight, gradually tapering, reaching almost if 

 not quite the apex of the sporangium; capillitium dense, a network of 

 flexuous brown threads, rather broad within, ending in slender tips 

 without; spore-mass brown; spores by transmitted light pale "lilac- 

 brown," or pale ferruginous, minutely but uniformly warted, 6-8 fx. 

 Plasmodium colorless. 



The var. fusca Lister is said to have a darker and more rigid cap- 

 illitium. Var. gracilis Lister is narrowly cylindrical, with partially 

 formed surface net and smaller spores. 



Probably widely distributed but rarely collected. New Jersey, 

 Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, Bolivia; 

 Europe, Nigeria, southern Asia, Japan. 



Family LAMPRODERMACE^E 

 Sporangia distinct, usually gregarious, more or less spherical, 

 usually stalked; columella typically present, rarely absent; capillitium 

 composed of slender, more or less branching threads, arising chiefly 



