HEMITRICHIA 263 



Sporangia distinct, crowded, cylindric or irregular, overlying one 

 another, rich copper-colored, metallic, shining, becoming brown, stip- 

 itate ; peridium thin, the upper portion early evanescent, the base per- 

 sistent as a cup, as in Arcyria; capillitium concolorous, the thread 

 abundantly branched to form a loose net, with many free and bul- 

 bous ends, pale under the lens, marked by three or four somewhat 

 obscure spiral bands and a few wart-like or plate-like thickenings; 

 stipe very short ; spore-mass reddish, spores by transmitted light pale, 

 nearly or quite smooth, 6-8 fx. 



This species is known at sight by its peculiarly beautiful tint when 

 fresh, as by the crowded prolix habit of the singular overlying sporan- 

 gia. The netted capillitium and the evanescent peridium suggests 

 Arycria, but there are abundant free tips, and the threads are un- 

 mistakably spirally wound, especially in the large, handsome sporangia 

 characteristic of the Mississippi valley. It is a boundary form un- 

 questionably. The stipe is generally very short, about one-tenth the 

 total height ; sometimes, when the peridium is more globose, the stipe 

 is proportionally longer. Specimens from Iowa show fructifications 

 several centimetres long and wide. 



Not rare. New England to the Black Hills and south. 



6. Hemitrichia leiocarpa (Cke.) Macbr. 



1877. Hemiarcyria leiocarpa Cke., Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., XL, p. 405. 

 1891. Hemiarcyria varneyi Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 396. 



Sporangia simple, obovate or pyriform, rarely almost globose, pallid, 

 with a stem of the same color, as long as the diameter of the sporan- 

 gium; spore-mass and capillitium concolorous, or with slight ochra- 

 ceous tint; capillitium forming a loose net, the tubes branching in a 

 reticulate manner; spirals three, thin, prominent, along the convex 

 sides of the tubes mixed with a few obtuse spines; spores globose, 

 with a thin membrane, 12-14 /x. 



Such is the original description of this distinctly American species. 

 H. varneyi Rex should differ in having spirals seven or eight, and spore 

 only 6.25 ju,. Mr. Lister, who has compared types of both species, 

 declares them the same! The present writer has been unable to se- 

 cure authentic specimens. 



Pennsylvania. 



