Stemonitis. 73 



spreading hypothallus ; sporangia cylindrical, obtuse or attenu- 

 ated at the apex, wall thin, evanescent ; blackish with metallic 

 tints ; stem slender, equal, shorter than the sporangium, blackish, 

 shining; columella reaching nearly to apex of sporangium; 

 capillitium dense, threads blackish, tapering, combined into a 

 dense, irregular net, the peripheral meshes smaller or equal to 

 the spores in diameter : spores in the mass Hack, with violet tinge, 

 dingy violet by transmitted light, globose, varying from dis- 

 tinctly verrucose to almost smooth, size also variable, from 

 5 11 jut diameter. 



Stemonitis fusca, Host., Mon., p. 193, fig. 40; Cke., Myx. Brit., 

 p. 46, fig. 40 ; Sacc., Syll., n. 1362. 



JExsicc. Roum., Fung. Sel. Gall. (ReL Moug.); Ellis, N. 

 Amer. Fung., 1119 ; Fckl., Fung. Rhen., 1149; Holl, Schmidt, 

 and Kunze, Deutschlands Schwamme, n. cix. ; Cke., Fung. Brit., 

 Ed. ii., n. 522 ; Fung. Cub. Wrightiani, n. 538 ; Roum., Fung. 

 Gall., Cent. xiv. (number indistinct). 



On rotten wood, &c. Britain (Bournemouth, Kew, Ilfra- 

 combe, Epping ; Bulmer, Yorks ; Carlisle, Aboyne) ; Europe ; 

 N. America ; Cuba ; Venezuela ; Natal ; Mauritius ; Himalayas ; 

 Ceylon; Victoria; Tasmania. 



From 5 14 mm. high. The only large British species with 

 a small meshed capillitium and spores blackish violet in the 

 mass. 



(Rostafinski's Synonyms.) 



Lycoperdon capite cylindracea, Rupp. Jenn., 304 (1718). 



ClathroidastriLin obscurum, Mich., t. 94, f. 1 (1729). 



Enibolus nigerrimus, Hall, t. i., f. 1 (1742). 



Clathrus nudus. Linn., Fl. Suec., 1263 (1745). 



Stemonitis I, Gled., Meth., 141 (1753). 



Embolus, Hall, 2137, t. 48, f. 1 (1768). 



Tubulifera cremor, Fl. Dan., t. 659, f. 1 (1777). 



Tremella typhina, Willd. Fl. Ber., 420 (1787). 



Mucor araneosus, Jacq. Misc., t. 15 (1778). 



Stemonitis fusca, Roth. Mag. Bot., p. 26 (1782); Ehr. Ber., 

 f. 5 ; Grev., S. C. Fl., t. 170 ; Corda Ic., ii., f. 87 ; Eng. FL, 

 v., 317; Cooke, Hdbk., 1155, fig. 132, Fung Britt., ii., 522. 



