214 ENDOSPOREAE [TRTCHIA 



PI. 162. — a. sporangia ; b. fragment of sporangium-wall, spores, and portions of 

 two elaters, one with irregular spirals, the other, var. inconspicua, with regular 

 spirals (England) ; c. sporangia, var. alpina (Switzerland) ; d. fragment of sporangium- 

 wall, spores, and portions of three elaters of var. alpina. 



Intermediate forms connecting the var. inconspicua with the typical 

 form are of frequent occurrence, and the variations of capillitium 

 described above have on several occasions been found represented in 

 different sporangia of the same group. The sporangium-wall varies 

 from yellow-brown, rosy brown to purplish-brown ; occasionally it is 

 whitish-lilac from deposits of angular crystals of lime, as in 

 forms of some species of Perichaena, while in the remarkable alpine 

 form, var. alpina, it is purplish-black. T. reniformis Peck, of which a 

 typical specimen has been received from Dr. Rex, has the granular 

 thickening of the sporangium-wall and the rugged irregular spirals of 

 typical T. contorta. A type specimen of T. Andersoni Rex from Sand 

 Coulee, Montana, has most of the elaters with regular close spiral bands 

 but in some the spirals are rugged or even absent ; the brown granules 

 in the sporangium-wall are less abundant than is usual in T. contorta, 

 but this character does not seem to be sufficiently important to separate 

 T. Andersoni from the present species. The type of T. advenula 

 Mass., from Glamis (K. 1748), has the sporangium-wall charged 

 with brown granular matter and the spirals on the elaters are 

 regular and distinct ; it is similar to Rostafinski's type of T. 

 inconspicua in Strassb. Herb. T. heterotrichia Balf., from Currey's 

 collection (K. 1066), appears to be an immature specimen of T. 

 contorta ; the sporangium-walls are almost free from granular 

 deposits ; the elaters are 4 to 5 /a diam., marked with one or three 

 rugged or indistinct spiral bands, and scattered blunt spines ; the 

 spores adhere to one another, and are very faintly spinulose ; 

 they measure 12 to 13 fi. T. iowensis Macbride agrees with the 

 present species in the habit and colour of the sporangia, in the granular 

 sporangium-wall, and in the spores ; the elaters are 3 /a diam., and, 

 in addition to being marked with about four inconspicuous spiral 

 bands, are studded with numerous slender fiexuose spines 5 to 10 p. 

 long ; the presence of spines is not of rare occurrence on the elaters of 

 T. contorta. T. pachyderma Cel. fil. is a form of the present species 

 with thick-walled elaters marked with faint spiral bands. T. inter- 

 media Cel. fil. combines the characters of typical T. contorta and the 

 var inconspicua. T. Rostafinskii Cel. fil. is the var. inconspicua, with 

 both sessile and shortly stalked sporangia. T. ovalispora Hollos, 

 from Hungary, may possibly be a form of the present species ; oval 

 spores are met with occasionally in many species of the genus Trichia. 



Forms of T. contorta having the elaters branched and combined 

 into a network are so frequent that for convenience of reference they 

 are placed in the genus Hemitrichia under the name H. Karstenii 

 Rost, 



Hab. On dead bark and wood. Net uncommon. — Lyme Regis, 

 Dorset (B.M. 1467) ; Wanstead, Essex (B.M. 1468) ; Reigate, Surrey 

 (B.M. 2900) : Aberdeen (B.M. slide) ; France (K. 997) ; Germany 

 (K. 1771) ; Poland (Strassb. Herb.) ; Bohemia (B.M. 2901); 

 Washington State (B.M. 2902) ; Montana (B.M. slide) ; Colorado 

 B.M. 2903) : var. inconspicua — Batheaston, Somerset (B.M. 351) ; 

 Alresford, Hants (B.M. 2904) ; Ashridge, Herts (B.M. 2905) ; Brechin, 

 Scotland (B.M. 365) ; Norway (Christiania Herb.) ; Sweden (K. 1702) ; 

 North Germany (B.M. 2906) ; Switzerland (Strassb. Herb.) ; Bohemia 



