218 ENDOSPOREAE [TRICHIA 



The various characters distinguishing the different forms of this 

 abundant species blend freely into one another, but the colour of 

 the capillitium and spores is generally associated with a form of the 

 elaters of sufficient constancy to enable the specimens to be classed 

 under the above varieties. Three varieties are given by Rostafinski, 

 distinguished by the colour of the sporangia and of the capillitium 

 and spores when seen in mass ; but the colour of the sporangium 

 is a character which varies so widely that it cannot be taken as 

 marking constant types ; specimens in the Strassburg Herbarium 

 have sessile black sporangia associated with others of brown 

 and bright nut-colour ; a few have long free stalks, and others 

 are clustered on a common stem. In a large cultivation from a single 

 growth of plasmodium at Lyme Regis, the sporangia are either olive 

 or rosy-purple marbled over with yellow lines of dehiscence, or almost 

 uniformly black. The type of T. lateritia Lev., from Chili (K. 

 1761), has nearly black sporangia; other gatherings from England 

 and the Continent, with similar characters of capillitium and 

 spores described here under var. lateritia, have either black, 

 rosy, or brown sporangia. The " simple " and " botrytis " forms are 

 mingled in most large gatherings, but the " botrytis " form is most 

 frequent in var. lateritia. The type of T. Decaisneana de Bary, from 

 Paris, in the Strassburg Herbarium, is included under the latter 

 variety ; the elaters are remarkably long, suddenly narrowing to a 

 point 10 to 15 /a in length, from a subterminal bulb ; a similar bulb 

 occurs in the middle of some of the elaters. The occurrence of bulbous 

 swellings in the elaters is so frequent and at the same time so incon- 

 stant in many species of Trichia that it cannot be received as a specific 

 character. T. Carlyleana Mass., from Carlisle, is the typical form with 

 minutely spinulose spores perhaps more nearly smooth than usual. The 

 type of T. purpurascens Nyl. from Finland, is the same form, and has 

 dull purple sporangia ; the spores average 10 fx diam., and are minutely 

 spinulose. Sometimes in the typical form the walls are sprinkled 

 with deposits of sulphur-yellow mealy or waxy deposits ; it is possible 

 that this appearance is found only after the sporangia have under- 

 gone some amount of weathering. 



Hab. The typical form and var. lateritia occur on dead wood ; 

 var. munda occurs usually on dead leaves, but has been found also 

 on dead wood ; var. flavicoma occurs on dead leaves only, especially 

 on those of holly. — Lyme Regis, Dorset (B.M. 1472) ; Leigh, Somerset 

 (B.M. 399) ; Eltham, Kent (B.M. 355) ; Weybridge, Surrey (K. 1086) ; 

 Carlisle (Herb. Massee) ; North Wales (B.M. 2931) ; Glamis, Scotland 

 (B.M. 385) ; Ireland (B.M. 2932) ; Finland (K. 1090); Sweden (B.M. 

 2933) ; Switzerland (B.M. 2934) ; Portugal (B.M. 2935) ; New Zealand 

 (B.M. 2936) ; Japan (B.M. 2017) ; Washington State (B.M. 2937) : 

 Philadelphia (B.M. 2938) : var. lateritia — Failand, Somerset (B.M. 

 2939); Orton, Leicester (B.M. 391); Broseley, Salop (B.M. 2940); 

 Paris (Strassb. Herb.) ; Germany (B.M. 759) ; Poland (Strassb. 

 Herb.); Switzerland (B.M. 760); Italy (B.M. 758); Ceylon (B.M. 

 762) ; Australia (K. 1082) ; Tasmania (K. 1759) ; New Zealand 

 (K. 1098) ; Japan (B.M. 2941) ; Philadelphia (B.M. 1888) ; Maine, 

 U.S.A. (B.M. 1619) ; Chili (K. 1761) : var. munda— Epping Forest, 

 Essex (B.M. 2942) ; New Forest, Hants (B.M. 2943) : Broseley, 

 Salop (B.M. 2944) ; Chatsworth, Derby (B.M. 2945) ; Nottingham 

 (B.M. 2946) ; near Dublin (B.M. 2947) ; Austria (B.M. 2948) ; Portugal 

 (B.M. 2949) ; Glacier, British Columbia (B.M. 2950) ; Washington 



