170 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS 



Sporangia gregarious, or somewhat clustered, erect, cylindric ob- 

 tuse, short, blackish brown, rubescent, becoming pallid, stipitate; 

 stipe short, black, polished, rising from a thin, brown, or iridescent 

 hypothallus ; columella percurrent, ceasing abruptly at the apex; 

 capillitium filling the interior with abundant branches which form 

 at the surface a close-meshed net, little developed above, making the 

 apex very blunt; spores in mass, dark brown, by transmitted light 

 dusky, nearly smooth, 7.5 fi. 



This species is well recognized at sight, among the fuscous forms, 

 by its scattered, erect habit. In color it is not unlike S. fusca, but has 

 an added reddish tinge. In form it is peculiar by virtue of the blunt 

 rounded apex which seems to be a constant character. The spores 

 under moderate lens are perfectly smooth, under the 1-12 they present 

 very delicate low scattered papillae. 



Rare; eastern part of United States. 



15. Stemonitis carolinensis Macbr. 



Plate XIII., Fig. 5. 



1894. Stemonitis tenerrima Berk. & C, Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc, p. 53. 

 1899. Stemonitis carolinensis Macbr., nom. nov., N. A. S., p. 152. 

 1911. Stemonitis pallida Wing., Lister, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 149. 



Sporangia tufted in scattered clusters, small, slender, cylindric but 

 tapering from the apex, at first ferruginous then ashen or purplish, 

 stipitate; the stipe short, black and shining, one-fourth the total 

 height or less, even; hypothallus well developed, black or very dark 

 brown ; columella black, gradually diminishing, at length dissipated 

 some distance below the clavate or acuminate apex of the sporangium ; 

 capillitium dense, the inner of many, scarcely expanded, pallid, freely 

 anastomosing branches, the outer a net of very small meshes, often 

 less than the spores, 3-15 /x, peridial processes imperceptible; spore- 

 mass pale ferruginous, spores by transmitted light pale violaceous 

 brown, smooth, 6-7 ii. 



Very closely related to the preceding, but recognizable by its pro- 

 portionately much more slender, taller, acuminate sporangia, paler, 

 and denser capillitium and the remarkably close-meshed net. 



Not uncommon south : Kentucky, Alabama. 



