STEMONITIS] STEMONITACEAE 145 



Ruda Guzowska (Strassb. Herb.) have the spores measuring 7 to 8 ft 

 diam. ; they are not smooth, as he states, but show about 28 meshes 

 of reticulation on the hemisphere. S. dictyospora Rost. appears to be 

 an unnecessary name ; it is represented in Kew Herb, by two speci- 

 mens referred to in Rost. Mon., App. p. 27. One of these from 

 Ceylon (K. 1622), bearing the signature of Rostafinski, is S. fusca var. 

 rufescens ; it has small spores, 5 to 6'5 ft diam., faintly reticulated with 

 rows of spinules. The other specimen is from Venezuela, on a palm leaf 

 (K. 1620, B.M. 648), and was marked by Berkeley 5. trechispora. 

 It consists of a number of small clusters of ill-developed sporangia with 

 irregular columellae and imperfect surface net; the spores are 10 to, 

 12 ft diam., marked with a strong complete reticulation in the form of 

 raised bands giving an even border 1 ft broad. Other gatherings 

 with spores showing a continuous reticulation of more or less raised 

 bands have been made in Europe, Japan and North America ; the- 

 spores, however, vary in size in the different specimens from 5 or 6 ft 

 to 10 or 11 ft, the sporangia range from 2 to 6 mm. in height, and the 

 capillitium also shows considerable variety. The banded reticulation 

 of the spores is thus associated with such different forms that it does 

 not appear to furnish a reliable character on which to found a distinct 

 species ; the various gatherings showing this feature are here placed 

 under the var. trechispora of the present species. Small forms of S. fusca 

 with spores measuring only 5-6 ft often show a close affinity to Coma- 

 tricha typhoides var. heterospora, q.v., from which they differ chiefly in 

 the more perfectly developed surface net of the capillitium. The 

 type of S. maxima Schwein. has spores 7 to 8 ft diam. with 

 reticulation precisely of the form above described of Rostafinski's 

 S. fusca from Ruda Guzowska. The type of S. nigrescens Rex, from 

 Philadelphia, has small sporangia with dark spores 8 ft diam. reticulated 

 as in typical S. fusca. The description and figure of Amaurochaete 

 speciosa Zukal leave little doubt that this is the var. confluens 

 of the present species. The confluent form of the sporangia may in 

 some cases be seen throughout the whole development from one 

 Plasmodium, the capillitium consisting of a profuse network of arching 

 threads with broad expansions at the nodes ; but sometimes only a part 

 presents the confluent form, and is associated with more or less perfect 

 sporangia with the normal superficial net. 



Hab. On dead wood. Common. — Leytonstone, Essex (B.M. 1363) 

 Lyme Regis, Dorset (B.M. 2525) ; Batheaston, Somerset (B.M. 208) 

 Wales (K. 1601); Edinburgh (K. 796); France (Paris Herb.) 

 Germany (B.M. 623) ; Austria (B.M. 626) ; Switzerland (B.M. 2527) 

 Italy (B.M. 621) ; Poland (Strassb. Herb.) ; Russia (Paris Herb.) 

 Portugal (B.M. 2526) ; Ceylon (K. 1622) ; Singapore (B.M. 1367) 

 Java (K. 1591); Australia (B.M. 635); Xew Zealand (K. 666) 

 New Caledonia (Paris Herb.) ; Philippine Islands (B.M. 2046) 

 Tonga (B.M. 1368) ; Japan (B.M. 2528) ; British Columbia (B.M 

 2529) ; Iowa (B.M. 1366) ; Philadelphia (B.M. 1910) ; Texas (B.M 

 919) ; Nicaragua (B.M. 1002) ; Vera Cruz (B.M. 631) ; Antigua 

 (B.M. 2530) ; Brazil (K. 686) ; Venezuela (B.M. 648). 



2. S. splendens Rost. Mon., p. 195 (1875). Plasmodium 

 creamy-white. Total height 6 to 20 mm. Sporangia 

 cylindrical, obtuse, stalked, purplish-brown, closely fasciculate. 

 Stalk black, shining, slender, 1 to 4 mm. long, rising 



