CRIBRARIA] HETERODERMACEAE 175 



and Cribraria argillacea. His gatherings show a complete series of 

 intermediate forms between the two species. Licea spermoides Berk. 

 & Curt, is var. simplex, and is represented by several specimens in 

 the Kew Collection, including the type from Alabama referred to by 

 Rostafinski in his App., p. 32 ; he cites the name as a synonym for 

 Cribraria argillacea (K. 1695), but although the sporangium-wall is 

 studded with patches of dark plasmodic granules, there is no indication 

 of a net to warrant its being placed under C. argillacea. The Plas- 

 modium of this species is described by Dr. Jahn as being " black, 

 like cart-wheel grease." 



Hab. On dead wood. — Buhner, Yorks (B.M. 1420) ; Aspley, 

 Beds (B.M. 2702) ; North Wales (B.M. 2701) ; Aboyne, Scotland 

 (B.M. 244) ; Sweden (K. 1658) ; Germany (B.M. 2703) ; Portugal 

 (B.M. 2704) ; Ceylon (B.M. 2705) ; Japan (B.M. 2706) ; Washington 

 State (B.M. 2707) ; Philadelphia (B.M. 1421, A, B) ; Colorado (B.M. 

 2708) : var. simplex— Japan (B.M. 2013) ; Ohio (B.M. 1421c) ; Iowa 

 (B.M. S22) ; South Carolina (B.M. 948). 



Genus 27. — CRIBRARIA Persoon in Roemer Neues Mag. 

 Bot., i. 91 (1794). Sporangia globose or subpyriform, 

 stalked ; sporangium- wall persistent and forming a cup in the 

 lower half or reduced to a basal disc, continued above as a 

 net of slender threads more or less expanded and thickened at 

 the nodes, membranous and evanescent in the meshes of the net. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF CRIBRARIA. 



A. Nodes of the net not thickened : — 



a. Sporangia clay- coloured, cup imperfectly defined, spor- 



angium-wall subpersistent above. 1. C. argillacea 



b. Sporangia dull crimson, net close. 2. C. rubiginosa 



c. Sporangia nut-brown or rufous — 



Sporangia 0-6 mm. diam., net lax. 3. C. rufa 



Sporangia 0-1 to 0*2 mm. diam. 4. C. minutissima 



B. Nodes of net thickened : — 

 a. Sporangia nut-brown — 



a. Cup ribbed, perforated at the margin, merging into the 

 branching nodes. 5. G. macrocarpa 



b. Cup well-defined, nodes usually flattened, angular, 

 branching. 6. C. aurantiaca 



c. Cup replaced by strong ribs, nodes usually flattened. 



7. C. splendens 



d. Cup well-defined or absent, nodes thickened, prominent, 

 numerous — 



Nodes with free rays, and connected by five to 

 eight slender threads. 



8. C. intricata 

 Nodes rounded in outline, without free rays, con- 

 nected by four to five slender threads. 



9. C. tenella 



