158 ENDOSPOREAE [COMATRICHA 



Prim. Fl. Hols., 110 (1780) ?* ; Pers. Obs. Myc., i. 57 ; Mass. 

 Mon., 74. Stemonitis typhoides DC. Fl. Fr., ii. 257 (1805). 

 S. pumila Corcla J.cones, v. 59 (1842). S. afjinis Mass. I.e., 

 76. S. atra Mass. I.e., 78. S. Carlylei Mass. I.e., 84. 

 Comatricha typhina Rc-st. Mon., p. 197 (1875). C. afjinis 

 Rost. I.e., p. 202. C. Stemonitis Macbr. N. Am. Slime-Moulds, 

 130 (1899). 



Var. 1. — heterospora Rex in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 

 1893, 367 : sporangia more rufous in colour than in the typical 

 form ; sporangium-wall evanescent, stalk without a silvery 

 sheath ; capillitium forming an uneven surface net in the lower 

 part ; spores 5 to 6 /x diam., faintly reticulate between the warts 

 which high magnification resolves into patches of close-meshed 

 reticulation ; on dead wood. — Stemonitis pumila Fr. Syst. Myc., 

 hi. 159 ?; S. virginiensii'Rex I.e., 1891, 391 ; Macbr. I.e., 117. 

 Comatricha dictyospora Cel. fil. Myx. Bohm., 49 (1893). 



Var. 2. — microspora Lister : sporangia with surface net 

 very close and flexuose, spores nearly smooth, 3-5 to 4-5 p. diam ; 

 on dead leaves. 



Var. 3. — similis Lister : sporangia slender, cylindrical ;. 

 sporangium-walls evanescent ; capillitium with an uneven sur- 

 face net below ; spores 6 to 7 p. diam., faintly warted with a 

 few larger and many smaller warts; on dead wood. 



PI. 125. — a. sporangia (England) ; b. capillitium ; c. spores ; d. sporangia of var 

 heterospora (England) ; e. f. capillitium and spores of same ; g. sporangia of var. 

 microspora (England) ; h. i. capillitium and spores of same ; k. sporangia of var. 

 similis (Philadelphia) ; m, spore of same ; n. sporangia of a form intermediate between 

 var. heterospora and Stemonitis fusca (Colorado) ; o. p. capillitium and spores of same ; 

 g. spores of Stemonitis virginiensis Rex. 



This abundant and widely distributed species shows great variety 

 in the denseness of its capillitium and the amount to which the surface 

 net is developed. The scattered warts, or in var. heterospora the 

 minute patches of close-meshed reticulation on the spores, first pointed 

 out by Dr. Rex, are however always present. The type of C. affinis, 

 Rost. from Freiburg, in the Strassburg collection, is not well developed 

 as shown by the abundance of immature spores ; but the capillitium is 

 that of the present species, and the spores have the characteristic 

 scattered warts. Stemonitis atra Mass., from New Zealand (K. 727), 

 has spores 6 to 8 p, diam., and appears to be the usual form of G. 

 typhoides. The var. heterospora is a well marked form. The 

 reticulation on the spores is usually faint and irregular, and the 

 capillitium often shows something of a surface net ; intermediate 

 forms with stronger spore-reticulation and with more or less definite 

 surface net to the capillitium occur, connecting this variety with 

 Stemonitis fusca. Such a form is seen in the specimen named Stemonitis 

 virginiensis Rex from the Alleghany Mountains, Virginia (B.M. 1914) ; 

 it has small loosely clustered sporangia showing the dense capillitium of 

 G. typhoides, but the spores are 6 p. diam. and marked with distinct 



* The early names quoted by Rostafinski as synonyms for this species, such as 

 Mucor Stemonitis Scop., Clathrus pertusus Batsch, Stemonitis typhina Wiggers are 

 accompanied by vague and imperfect descriptions. Bulliard's excellent figures of 

 Trichia typhoides leave no doubt as to the species he represents. 



