184 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS 



der tips without; spore-mass brown, spores by transmitted light pale 

 "lilac brown," or pale ferruginous, minutely but uniformly warted, 

 6-8 /x. 



Probably widely distributed but rarely collected. Pennsylvania, 

 Iowa; Okoboji. Toronto, — Miss Currie. 



14. COMATRICHA ELLISII, IVIorg. 



Plate XII., Figs. 15 and 15 a. 



1894. Comatricha ellisii Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc, p. 49. 



1899. Comatricha laxa Rost., Macbr., N. A. S., p. 127. 



1911. Comatricha nigra Schroet., List., Mycet., 2nd ed., p. 152. 



Sporangia short, erect, oval or ovoid to oblong. Stipe and colu- 

 mella erect, brown and smooth, rising from a thin pallid hypothallus, 

 tapering upward and vanishing into the capillitium toward the apex 

 of the sporangium, the stipe usually longer than the columella. 

 Capillitium of slender pale brown threads ; these branch several times 

 with lateral anastomosing branchlets, forming a rather open network 

 of small meshes, ending with very short free extremities. Spores 

 globose, even, pale ochraceous, 6-7 mic. in diameter. 



Growing on old pine wood. Sporangium .3-6 mm. in height by 

 .3-5 mm. in width, the stipe usually a little longer than the spo- 

 rangium. 



On the strength of the clear descriptions and beautiful drawings of 

 Celakowsky, Myxo?nyceten Bohmens, p. 52 ; Taf. 2, Figs. 7 and 8, 

 this elegant little species as described by my colleague Professor 

 Morgan was, in the former edition, referred to C. laxa Rost. It was 

 then reported from New Jersey only. Since then we have specimens 

 from Ohio and from southern Missouri, all true to form, almost 

 identical. It seems wise accordingly, while recognizing the relation- 

 ship of the form to both C. laxa, and to C. nigra as well, to give it 

 here an individual place again. It is very small; but once studied 

 may thereafter be easily recognized by a hand-lens. The form is def- 

 inite, clean-cut, and the spores are pronouncedly smaller than in 

 either of the two related species. 



