82 A Monograph of the Myxogastres. 



Stemonitis Friesiana, De Bary. 



Scattered or gregarious ; sporangia globose or shortly elliptical, 

 wall very thin, disappearing, whitish with a silvery sheen or 

 purple black; stem Hack, shining, elongated, tapering upwards^ 

 expanding at the base into a small, circular, irregularly ribbed 

 or latticed hypothallus ; columella reaching about two-thirds the 

 height of the sporangium, then breaking up into several branches, 

 threads of capillitium dark brown, arcuate, forming a dense 

 net; spores in the mass blackish, violet-brown by transmitted 

 light, globose, smooth, 8 10 /u. diameter. 



Stemonitis Friesiana, De Bary, in Rab. F. Eng., n. 568. 



Comatricha Friesiana, Host., Mon., p. 199, figs. 51 and 56 ; 

 Cke., Myx. Brit., p. 48, figs. 51 and 56 ; Sacc., Syll., vii., 1356. 



Exsicc. Fuckel, Fung. Rhtta., n. 1446 (as Stemonitis ovata). 



On wood, branches, leaves, &c. 



Britain (Lyndhurst, Kew, Hereford, York, Carlisle, Aboyne, 

 N. B.) ; Europe ; U. States ; Ceylon ; Tasmania. 



From 3 5 mm. high. The threads of the capillitium are 

 of nearly equal thickness throughout, and sometimes studded 

 with amorphous lumps of organic matter. Distinguished by 

 the long, tapering stem, and small globose, or shortly ovate 

 sporangium. 



(Rostafinski's Synonyms.) 



Mucor embolus, Linn. Sp., 1185 (1753). 



Lycogala, Hall, 2146? (1768). 



Stemonitis rcticulata, Trent, p. 223? (1797). 



Stemonitis nigra, Pers., Gmel. Sys., 1467 (1791). 



Stemonitis atrofusca, Pers., Disp., 11 (1797). 



Stemonitis atrofusca, /3 nigra, Pers., Disp., 54 (1797). 



Stemonitis ovata, Pers., Syn., 189 (1801); Berk., Eng. Fl., v., 



p. 317; Cooke, Hdbk., no. 1158. 

 Trichia mucoriformis, Schum., SaelL, 1469 (1803). 

 Stemonitis violacea, Schum., SaelL, 1491 (1803). 

 Stemonitis nigra, Schum., Saell., 1493 (1803). 

 Stemonitis globosa, Schum., Saell., 1494 (1803). 



