128 CURREY, ON FUNGI. 



capillitium, in which it is rarely (if ever) possible to trace a 

 single threa,d from one extremity to the other, and their 

 colour is darker. The markings also are strongly defined, 

 and altogether very different from the very delicate ones of 

 Trichia cerina. 



Trichia nigripes, Fries, 'Syst.Myc./ iii,p.l86. — Gregarious, 

 peridia various in form, even, yellowish ; stem very short, 

 blackish ; capillitium and sporidia of a yellowish ochre. 

 Near Eltham, Kent, and near Weybridge, in Surrey; common. 



This species, as Fries has remarked, is closely allied to 

 Trichia varia — indeed, the elaters of the two are (generally 

 speaking) not distinguishable. The peridia, however, of 

 Trichia varia, are considerably smaller, of a brighter yellow, 

 and frequently assume a reniform shape, which I have never 

 found to be the case with Trichia nigripes. The stem of the 

 latter varies much, and is sometimes quite obsolete. In all 

 the specimens which I have found the peridia are uniformly 

 ovoid, and the lower part when empty has the transparent, 

 shining, skinny appearance noticed by Mr. Berkeley in TV. 

 clavata. I have figured the elaters of this species, in a paper 

 on those organs, in the 3d vol. of this journal. 



Trichia nibiformis, Pers. — Weybridge, January, 1856. 



Some confusion seems to existbetweenthis plant andTrichia 

 Neesiana. The two are figured side by side in Corda's ' Icones 

 Fungorum,' vol. i, taf vi, 288 b, 288 c, and are, at first sight, 

 very different in appearance. The threads of the former are 

 represented as being smooth, and those of the latter as 

 strongly echinulate. The peridia in the Weybridge speci- 

 mens exactly resemble fig. 288 b, but the threads are com- 

 pletely covered with spines. I cannot help thinking that 

 Corda has figured the tlireads of some other species by mis- 

 take, for, in his previous memoir, ' Ueber Spiral-faser-zellen,' 

 he has represented the threads of T. I'ubiformis as spinous. 

 It is true that there are some Trichise in which the tlireads, 

 although usually smooth, exhibit occasionally a few spines, 

 but I have never found the extremes of roughness and smooth- 

 ness united in one species, as must be the case if Corda's 

 figures be correct. There are specimens marked Trichia 

 Neesiana in the Hookerian Herbarium, which, through the 

 kindness of Sir William and Dr. Hooker, I have had an op- 

 portunity of examining, and the threads are quite undistin- 

 guishable from those of T. rubiformis. The peridia in the 

 Kew specimens are, unfortunately, in an imperfect condi- 

 tion, but they appear to have been stemless, like those in 

 Corda's fig. 288 c. It is to be observed that the j)eridia of 

 T. rubifoi'mis do not always grow in a fasciculate manner, 

 and the oidy difference between detached specimens of T. 



