MIDLAND NATURALIST. 67 
his references in the cases in question to the more clear and lengthy 
description of Micheli taken together with the plate of the plant by 
the latter author, establishes beyond the doubt the identity of the 
Clathroidastrum of Adanson with that of Micheli. M. C. Cooke* 
apparently following the lead of Rostafinski, seems to infer that the 
genus Clathroidastrum of Micheli is an aggregate of Stemonitis 
proper and Comatricha, both names taken here in the sense com- 
monly accepted. 
Micheli quotes two species under Clathroidastrum : 
(1) Clathroidastrum obscurum, Majus, Tab. 94, Fig. r. 
(2) Clathroidastrum obscurum, Minus, Tab. 94, Fig. 2. 
The former is considered the type of the modern genus 
Stemonitis and has been called Stemonitis fusca, Roth, 1782, the 
latter has been generally considered to be the present Comatricha 
typhina, (Rost.) M. C. Cook or Comatricha Stemonitis (Scop.) 
Sheld. 1895, though on what grounds is not clear to me. May it 
not be possible that here as in so many cases in our modern nomen- 
clature an error may have crept in which has been carefully copied 
by our mycologists no one ever challenging the names by careful 
examination of the original publication of Micheli?+ That the 
first species of Micheli is a Stemonitis is generally admitted. May 
it not be possible that the second is also a Stemonitis taken in the 
modern sense? Examining the description] we find that Miche'i 
states that the plates that illustrate his two species are shown in 
DD as drawn to their exact natural size, & i. e. to use his own 
words: ''Vera autem plantae magnitudo ea est quae figura DD 
repraesentur." Applying an ordinary instrument or rule to the 
figures we find that one measures 14 millimeters and the second, 
supposed to he a Comatricha, is exactly 10 mm. high. Looking up 
the description of Comatricha Stemonitis, (Scop.) Sheldon, or as 
some call it Comatricha typhoides supposed to have been plant No. 
2 of Micheli, we find that it never exceeds less than one-half that 
Size, or to be specific, it ranges from 2-4 mm. Moreover no Coma- 
tricha of such size was known at that time or for many years later. 
The natural inference is that the second plant described by 
Micheli is not a Comatricha but a Stemonitis proper, which one is 
Cooke, M. C. Myxomycetes of Great Brittain (1877) p. 46-47. 
+ Micheli, P. A. Nova Plantarum Genera, (1729) p. 214. Tab. 94. 
i De p. 215. 
4 Do p. 215. 
