138 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
that is, in a reverse direction to the spirals of Trichia mere 
sometimes the lines run almost at right angles to the length of the 
elater, and more rarely the spirals pass from ‘right to left for. a 
short distance. The spores are bright yellow, 12-13 p diam., 
sere Cdicalndesk: with narrow bands, which give a border of 
e margin, and show a network with four te five meshes 
os In 
species is included under Oligonema nitens Rost., ee since the 
ee of — work we have had the opportunity of examining 
a number of specimens from Europe and North America, with the 
result that at are iiieiinde ed of the specific distinction of O. flavidum. 
O. nitens has the sporangium-wall smooth, except for scattered 
horseshoe-shaped thickenings enclosing thinner membrane; the 
pari ers are not warted, but are nearly smooth and marked with 
rings, 0 show faint spiral bands passing from the right 
bas to the left below when the thread is viewed horizontally, 
in the same direction as in the elaters of T’richia; the spores are 
Trichia affinis. Of the eleven specimens of O. nitens we have examined, 
two are from the State of Massachusetts, and nine are from Europe 
ap i: tpt We have seen thirty-three specimens of O. flavidum; 
these, two only are from England, and thirty-one from the 
United States of Athetie ca. The markings on the sporangium-wall 
and on the elaters and spores are fairly constant for the two species. 
The length of the elaters is a most variable character, 
entirely agree with Dr. Sturgis in regarding O. brevifilum Peck as 
merely a form of O. flavidum with short elaters.* We have received 
from Dr. Celakovsky, from Bohemia, a specimen of O. nitens in 
which the elaters are forty and repeatedly branched and anasto- 
mosing. Among the numerous gatherings from near Philadelphia 
that Mr. Bilgram has kindly sent us are two specimens of O. flavidum 
with elaters so long and branching as almost to form a net; they 
are marked partly with irregular spiral lines running in a reverse 
direction to those in ae Aes nus ee and partly ‘With a reticu- 
lation of minute warts e specimen the threads are here and 
there beset with moos ati datinnad Wikies! the sporangium- wall 
in both has the characteristic stippled markings; the spores show 
a network of five or six meshes across the hemisphere. These two 
specimens closely approach Calonema awreum Morg.,t wb ae 
to differ chiefly in the bolder and more branching markings of the 
from different parts of the United States, all showing a more or less 
complete network of capillitium with some free elaters, ma mes with 
spines, delicate reticulations, and faint spirals 2a from the left 
above to the right below ; the spores have five to six meshes across 
the hem isphere, a closer network of bands than is iene in O. fla- 
vidum, but precisely similar to the two specimens from Mr. Bilgram 
above mentioned. 
. enuinee Conn. Ac. Arts. & Se. vol. x. pt. 2, D. p 487, i bt: fig. 2 25, 1900. 
+ Journ. Cine. Soc. Nat. Hist, April, 1893, p 
