276 THE MYXOMYCETES 



Cornuvia serpula (Wigand) Rost. 



Versuch 15. 1873. 



1863. Arcyria serpula Wigand, Prings. Jahrb. Bot. 3 : 44. 

 1892. Ophiotheca serpula (Wig.) Massee, Mon. 135. 



Sporangia sessile, subglobose and about 0.3 mm. in diameter or 

 forming small plasmodiocarps, shining golden yellow; peridium mem- 

 branous, smooth, pale yellow; capillitium netted, flaccid, the freely 

 branching threads 3-5 /x in diameter, marked with prominent rings 

 which are often more or less clustered; spores yellow, reticulate, with 

 8-12 meshes to the hemisphere, 10-12 fx. 



Not common. Europe, East Africa, North India. Not known from 

 the western hemisphere. 



Family TRICHIACE^ 



Capillitium thread-like, sculptured with spiral bands, sometimes 

 with rings and knobs; threads free, fascicled or forming a network. 



KEY TO THE GENERA OF THE TRICHIACE4E 



a. Capillitial threads solid, marked with spirals, fascicled, arising 

 from base and branching in upper part, the tips attached to the 

 sporangium wall 1. Prototrichia 



a. Capillitial threads free or united into a net, not fascicled nor 



attached b 



b. Capillitial threads short, entirely free, sometimes branched c 



b. Capillitial threads long, united into a net d 



c. Spirals irregular, faint, sometimes wanting 2. Oligonema 



c. Spirals distinct, usually regular 3. Trichia 



d. Spirals regular 4. Hemitrichia 



d. Spirals fragmentary, more or less obscured by a reticulation 5. Calonema 



1. Prototrichia Rost. 

 Mon. App. 38. 1876. 



Fructification sporangiate or somewhat plasmodiocarpous, rarely 

 short-stipitate; peridium thin, transparent; capillitium of solid, spirally 

 banded threads, attached at base of sporangium and becoming sub- 

 divided, the penicillate tips attached to the upper sporangium wall; 

 spores brown in mass, pallid, pinkish by transmitted light. 



A single species : 



Prototrichia metallica {Berk.) Massee 



Jour. Roy. Micr. Soc. 1889 : 350. 

 PI. XVIII, Figs. 478, 479, 480. 



1859. Trichia metallica Berk., in Hooker, Fl. Tasm. 268. 



1866. Trichia flagellijer Berk. & Br., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. III. 18 : 56. 





