ENERTHENEMA 189 



illitium, from which the sporangial mass has slipped, leaving it pro- 

 truding slightly. 



Meylan has described a variety carneogriseum (Bull. Soc. Vaud. 

 51: 268, 1917) as differing from the typical form by its rose-gray or 

 violet sporangia. We have collections that approach that condition, 

 but they merge into the typical condition. 



Not common but widely distributed. From Pennsylvania and 

 South Carolina to Iowa, Colorado and Washington, Chile; through- 

 out the north temperate zone. 



2. Enerthenema melanospermtjm Macbride & Martin 



Jour. Wash. Acad. Sc. 22 : 91. 1932. 

 PL XIII, Figs. 307, 308. 



Sporangia intense black, gregarious in small clusters of three to a 

 dozen, these in larger aggregations, globose or oval, stalked, 0.8 to 

 1 mm. in diameter, total height 2 mm. or more; stipe black, shin- 

 ing, rather stout, attentuated upward and continued as a slender, 

 unbranched columella capped with a very large, shining, infundibuli- 

 form terminal disk, up to 0.5 mm. in diameter; capillitium dense, 

 black, rather freely branched, arising from terminal disk and with 

 ends free; spores free, dark olivaceous, coarsely warted, 12-14 /x. 



Obviously close to E. papillatum but clearly distinct by reason of 

 its large size, the intense and permanent black color, the very large 

 apical disk, and the large, dark, very rough spores. 



Oregon, Washington. 



3. Enerthenema berkeleyanum Rost. 



Mon. App. 29. 1876. 

 (as E. berkeleyana) 



1913. Enerthenema syncarpon Sturgis, Colo. Coll. Pub. Sc. Ser. 12 : 448. 

 1925. Enerthenema papillatum Rost. var. syncarpon List., Mycetozoa ed. 3. 150. 



Sporangia jet-black, gregarious or scattered, globose, stalked, 

 rather small, diameter 0.4-0.7 mm., height 0.8-1 mm.; stipe black, 

 extending into columella which is tipped by a small shining disk from 

 which the black, coarse, rough, sparsely branched, flexuose capilli- 

 tium descends; spores in clusters of 4-12, very spiny on exposed sur- 

 faces, nearly smooth elsewhere, becoming globose when separated 

 and then 11-13 ju in diameter. 



Distinct from E. papillatum in color, and capillitial and spore char- 

 acters. 



Rare: South Carolina, Colorado, also two collections from Long 



