212 ENDOSPOREAE [TRTCHIA 



The type of Oligonema aeneum Karst. from Finland, is not represented 

 in the quoted collections ; the description of the crowded olivaceous 

 sporangia, smooth elaters marked with scattered ring-shaped thicken- 

 ings, and warted, yellowish-ochre spores, suggests an irregular develop- 

 ment of the present species. The description of Trichia anonomala 

 Karst. (syn. Comuvia anomala Karst.) also suggests an abnormal 

 growth of T. scabra. 



Hab. On dead wood. Common. — Wothorpe, Northants (B.M. 

 366) ; Somerset (B.M. 368) ; Wanstead, Essex (B.M. 1462) ; Lyme 

 Regis, Dorset (B.M. slide) ; Dudley, Stafford (B.M. 1461); Alnwick, 

 Northumberland (B.M. 2875) ; Scotland (B.M. 2876) ; Norway (B.M. 

 2877); Sweden (K. 1104); Germany (B.M. 779); Poland (Strassb. 

 Herb.) ; Switzerland (B.M. 2878) ; Austria (B.M. 1834) ; Portugal 

 (B.M. 2879) ; Ceylon (B.M. 2890) ; Banff, Canada (B.M. 2891) ; 

 Muskoka, Canada (B.M. 2892); Washington State (B.M. 3191); 

 Iowa (B.M. 835) ; Ohio (B.M. 1464) ; Maine, U.S.A. (B.M. 1618) ; 

 Philadelphia (B.M. 1463). 



6. T. varia Pers. in Roerner N. Mag. Bot., i. 90 (1794). 

 Plasmodium white. Sporangia globose, ovoid or turbinate, 

 0*6 to 0*9 mm. diam., sessile, stalked, or forming short plas- 

 modiocarps, crowded or scattered, ochraceous or olivaceous ; 

 sporangium-wall membranous, pale yellow, marked with 

 ring-shaped or crescentic thickenings 8 /x diam. Stalks 

 0-1 to 0-5 mm. high, 0*2 to 0-3 mm. thick, black, furrowed. 

 Capillitium of cylindrical ochraceous-yellow elaters, 3 to 5 //. 

 diam., tapering shortly at the ends and terminating in a curved 

 point, marked with two prominent spiral bands more 

 prominent on one side of the elater than on the other. 

 Spores ochraceous-yellow, minutely warted, 11 to 16 jj. 

 diam.— Rost. Mon., p. 251 ; Mass. Mon., 178 ; Macbr. N. Am. 

 Slime-Moulds, 212. Stemonitis varia Pers. in Gmel. Syst. 

 Nat., 1470 (1791). Mucor piriformis Scop. Fl. Cam., ed. 2, ii. 

 492 (1772) ? Lycoperdon vesiculosum Batsch Elench. Fung., 

 Cont. i. 283 (1786) ? Trichia olivacea Pers. Obs. Mvc, i. 

 62 (1796) ? T. vulgaris Pers. I.e., ii. 32 (1799) ? T. cordata 

 Pers. I.e., 33. T. cylindrica Pers. I.e. T. pyriformis Pers. I.e. 

 T. nigripes Pers. Syn., 178 (1801). T. craterioides Corda Icon., 

 ii. 21, t. xii., f. 85 (1838). T. aculeata Cel. fil. Myx. Bohm., 

 34 (1893). 



PI. 164. — o. sporangia ; b. elater ; c. spore ; (England). 



Sporangia with longer or shorter stalks frequently occur with sessile 

 forms arising from the same plasmodium. As in other species of the 

 genus, forms of T. varia sometimes occur with either very long (cp. 

 T. varia v. avata Meylan in Bull. Soc. Vaud., xliv. 299), or very short 

 elaters, or the elaters may branch and combine to form a Hemitrichia- 

 like network. The type of T. aculeata Cel. fil., from Bohemia (B.M. 

 2893), is a somewhat irregular form of the present species ; many of 

 the elaters are very short, and show attachment to the sporangium- 

 wall ; they are then either marked with the usual spiral bands, or are 

 smooth and reduced to 6pine-like processes. 



