.OLIGONEMA.] TKICHIACEjB, 173 



Eah. On dead wood and leaves. Common. — Orton, Leicester (B. M. 

 391) ; Lyme Regis, Dorset (L:B.M.142) ; Leigh, Somerset (B. M. 399); 

 Glamis, Scotland (B. M. 385) ; Germany (B. M. 759) ; Poland (Straasb. 

 Herb.) ; Finland (K. 1090) ; Switzerland (B. M. 760) ; Italy (B. M. 

 758) ; Ceylon (B. M. 762) ; Australia (K. 1082) ; Tasmania (K. 1759) : 

 New Zealand {K. 1098) ; Philadelphia (L:B.M.142) ; Mass., U.S.A. 

 (L:B.M.142) ; Chili (K. 1761). 



SPECIES EXCLUDED FEOM THE GENUS. 



T. Kichxii Rost. = Oligonema nitens Rost. 

 T. pusilla Schroet. = Oligonema nitens Host. 

 T. noma Mass. = Hemitrichia Wigandii Lister. 



Genus 34.— OLIGONEMA Rostafinski, Men., p. 291 (1875). 

 Sporangia minute, densely clustered ; capiUitium scanty, of short 

 or long threads, with spiral markings indistinct or wanting ; 

 spores reticulated. 



1. 0. nitens Rost., I.e., f. 198 (1875). Plasmodium? Sporangia 

 subglobose, sessile, heaped together in clusters, 03 to 0'4 mm. 

 diam., shining, yellow or olivaceous-yellow; sporangium-wall 

 membranous, yellow. Oapillitium of short or long, cylindrical, 

 yellow elaters, 3 to 5 /a diam., with rounded or abruptly pointed 

 ends, marked with one to four irregular indistinct spiral bands, 

 which are sometimes wanting, occasionally with ring-shaped 

 thickenings and scattered spines, or spinulose. Spores yellow, 

 reticulated with narrow, rarely with broad and pitted bands, 

 11 to 16 fjL diam. ; border 0-5 to 1-5 jx. wide. — Cooke, Myx. Brit., 

 fig. 198 ; Mass., Mon., p. 170. Triohia nitens Libert (non Pers.), 

 PI. Cryp. Ard., Fasc. iii., No. 227 (1834). Gornuvia nitens Rost., 

 Versuch, p. 15 (1873). Trichia Ba/oarica de Thuemen, Myc. 

 Univ., No. 1497. Oligonema Bavwricwm Balf. & Berl., Sacc. 

 Syll., vii., p. 437. Perichcena Jlavida Peck, in R^. N. York 

 Mus., xxvi., p. 76. Oligonema flavidum Mass., Mon., p. 171. 

 Oligonema brevifilum Peck, in Rep. N. York Mus., xxxi., p. 42 ; 

 Mass., Mon., p. 173. Oligonema minutulum Mass., in Journ. R. 

 Micr. Soc. (1889), p. 348; Mass., Mon., p. 171. Physa/rum Schwei- 

 nitzii Berk., in Grev., ii., p. 66 ; Mass., Mon., p. 311. Trichia 

 Kichxii Rost., Mon., App., p. 40. Trichia pusilla Schroet., Krypt. 

 Fl. Schles., iii., p. 114. 



Plate LXI., A. — d. sporangia, x 20 ; e. elaters, x 600 ; /. spore, x 600 

 (Ardennes : Libert's type). 



This species varies in the markings on the elaters and the reticula- 

 tion of the spores ; few gatherings are exactly similar, and great 

 variety is often seen in a single sporangium ; the length of the elaters 

 in some specimens is only about 50 fi, while in others the average is 

 from five to seven times as long. A gathering from South Carolina in 

 Ravenel's collection (B. M. 960, 961) shows some sporangia -^ith capil- 

 litium forming a network with few free ends as in Hemitrichia, while 

 others have more or less branched and free elaters. 0. nitens is- allied 

 to Trichia affinis and T. persimilis, in which species similar variations 

 in spores and elaters are sometimes found in sporangia which have 



