BARBEYELLA 191 



lygonal patches that adhere to the capillitial branchlets, and the slight 

 annulus at the base of the columella; stipe long, unequal, dark below, 

 above paler; columella almost none, giving rise to the comparatively 

 few slender threads which by their repeated forking make up the 

 capillitium; spores globose, even, violaceous, 8-9 /x. 



Reported in the United States so far from Maine, New York, Penn- 

 sylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Chile; Europe, Asia, Australasia. Mr. 

 Hagelstein reports it as abundant on Long Island. 



The sporangia are very small, but beautiful, delicate little struc- 

 tures, found mainly on bark in this country; in Norway it seems to 

 have been seen first on a dead polyporus. Its minuteness doubtless 

 causes it to be generally overlooked. 



The var. imperatoria Emoto (Bot. Mag. 43 : 172, 1929) is somewhat 

 more robust, with spores 10 ix in diameter, and with strongly netted 

 plates. 



5. Barbeyella Meylan 

 Bull. Soc. Bot. Geneve 2 ser. 6 : 89. 1914. 



Sporangia subglobose, stalked, the walls dehiscing into somewhat 

 persistent lobes; capillitium consisting of a few simple dark threads 

 radiating from the summit of the columella. 



Barbeyella minutissima Meylan 



Bull. Soc. Bot. Geneve 2 ser. 6 : 89. 1914. 

 PI. XVI, Figs. 395, 396. 



Sporangia scattered, stalked, subglobose, 0.15 to 0.2 mm. in di- 

 ameter; sporangium wall membranous, dark purplish brown, dehisc- 

 ing by breaking up into a few irregular lobes and plates; stalk black, 

 subulate, solid above, tubular and enclosing refuse matter below, 

 0.2 to 0.6 mm. tall; columella black, about half the height of the spo- 

 rangium, cylindrical or thickened at the summit; capillitium of 7 to 10 

 dark, simple or rarely forked threads radiating from the top of the 

 columella and adhering by their tips to the sporangium wall; spores 

 pale purplish gray covered with rather sparse, dark, coarse warts, 

 7-9 (x, sometimes nearly smooth. 



Our specimens, received through the courtesy of M. Meylan, have 

 rough spores uniformly 8.5 to 9.2 /x in diameter. The details of the 

 dehiscence are described by Jarocki (1931). 



Known only from the Jura Mountains of Switzerland, from Poland, 

 in the latter country occurring both in the Carpathians and in the 

 lowlands, and from Japan. 



