OPHIOTHECA 241 



2. Ophiotheca chrysoperma Currey. 



1854. ophiotheca chrysosperma Currey, Quart. Mic. Jour., II., p. 240. 



1875. Cornwuia circumscissa (Wallr.) Rost., Man., p. 290. 



1911. Perichaena chrysosperma Lister, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., in part, p. 248. 



Plasmodiocarp elongate, bent and curved in various ways, spheri- 

 cal, more rarely annular or even reticulate, yellowish or ochraceous 

 brown, opening irregularly; peridium thin, with yellowish outer 

 layer; capillitium rather abundant, of threads slender, sparingly 

 branched and minutely but distinctly spinulose; spore-mass yellow, 

 spores by transmitted light pale, almost smooth, about 8 fi. 



Occurs on the inner bark of deciduous trees, especially of oak. 

 Not common. 



This is possibly Cornuvia circumscissa {Wallr.) of Rostafinski's 

 monograph; but it is doubtful to what Wallroth referred. Rosta- 

 finski's other citations are equally uncertain. Currey's figures and 

 description alone merit recognition. 



Ohio, Iowa, Tennessee ; Canada. 



3. Ophiotheca wrightii Berk. 



Plate II., Figs. 1,1 a, 1 b. 



1868. Ophiotheca nvrightii Berk, & C, Jour. Linn. Soc, X., p. 349. 



1876. Cornuvia ivriffhtii (Berk. & C.) Rost., Afon. A pp., p. 36. 



1892. Cornuvia ivriffhtii (Berk, & C.) Macbr., Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. la., 

 II., p. 122. 



1911. Perichaena chrysosperma Lister, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p, 248, 



Plasmodiocarp bent or short-flexuous, often arcuate or completely 

 annular, dark chestnut brown or black, opening irregularly; peridium 

 thin, brittle, translucent, covered without by a rather dense layer of 

 brownish or black brown scales ; capillitium of long, sparingly branch- 

 ed threads furnished with projecting spinules remarkable for their 

 length, about twice the diameter of the thread ; spores yellow, 

 minutely but distinctly warted, about \2 jx. 



This is the common species everywhere on the inner side of the 

 bark of fallen trees, Ulmus, etc. It is readily distinguished at sight 

 by the peculiar annular, looped, and U-shaped plasmodiocarps, with 

 their dark umbrine or blackened surface. From the preceding it 



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