110 
ENDOSPORE^. 
[STEMONITIS. 
B. Spores pale ferruginous : — 
Spores 7 to 9 diam., plasmodium yellow, 
4. S. ferruginea. 
Spores 4 to 6 )u, diam., plasmodium white. 
5. S. Smithii. 
1. S. fasca Eoth, in E,bm. & Ust. Mag. Bot., i., pt. 2, p. 26 
(1787). Plasmodium white, m rotten wood, maturing at the place of 
emergence. Total height, 2 to 5 mm. Sporangia cylindrical, obtuse, 
stipitate, purplish-black, at first closely fasciculate. Stalk black, 
shining, 1 to 4 mm. long, 0'3 to 0'7 mm. thick, rising from a well- 
developed, brown, membranous hypothallus. Columella reaching 
to near the apex of the sporangivim. Capillitium of dark brown 
threads springing from all parts of the columella, combined into 
a loose network, the iiltimate branches forming a delicate super- 
ficial net, with angular, unequal meshes vai'ying from 6 to 16 /x 
wide. Spores grey or rufous-violet, spinulose, with more or less 
reticulated sculpture, 6 to 10 /a diam. — Rost., Mon., p. 193 ; Cooke, 
Myx. Brit., p. 46 ; Blytt, Bidi\ K. Norg., Sop. iii. (1892), p. 8 ; 
Mass., Mon., p. 72 ; Macbride, in Bull. Nat. Hist. Iowa, ii., 
p. 141. 8. maxima Schweinitz, in Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. (1834), 
p. 260 ; Macbride, Z.c.,p. 141. S. dictyospora Host., Mon., p. 195; 
Mass., Mon., p. 83. S. nigrescens Bex, in Proc. Acad. Nat. Soc. 
Phil. (1891), p. 392. S. Castillensis Macbride, I.e., ii., p. 381, 
Plate X., fig. 5. Amaurochcete speciosa Zukal, Verh. Zool.-Bot. 
Gesell. Wien, xxxv., p. 335, t. 15, f. 8. 
a. genuina : spores grey or violet-grey, reticulated, 8 to 10 /u, 
diam. 
fi. rufescens : spores rufous-grey, faintly reticulated, 6 to 8 />t. 
diam. 
y. confluens : sporangia confluent^ lobed, without stalk, columella, 
or superficial net. 
Plate XLII., B.—a., b. sporangia, a. genuina, k 2; c. capillitium, x 180 ; 
d. sporangia jS. ntfesccns, x 2 ; e. capillitium, y. confluens, x 180 ; /. spore, 
a. genuina, x 600 : g. spore, (3. rufescens, x 600 ; h. three spores fi-om one 
sporangium uniting the characters of a. and /3., x 600 (EnglaiiTl) ; i. three 
spores from one sporangium (England) ; 7i. spore of S. trecliisjjora Berk., 
X 600 (Venezuela). 
Plate LXXVIL, A..— a. pendulous fethalium, y. confluens, x 20 ; i. pul- 
vinate sethalium, x 3 ; capillitium of same attached to a fragment of 
sporangium- wall, x 180 ; d. spores, x 600 (Epping Forest, England). 
The spores of this very abundant species are never smooth, and 
when magnified 1,200 diam. present the following modifications in 
sculpture ; in a. this either consists of spines, thickened and connected 
at their bases, forming a complete net with from 20 to 50 meshes on 
the surface of the hemisphere, and giving a continuous border to the 
spore; or the spines are less connected, forming a broken net, and 
giving an irregular border to the spore ; or the spines are distinct, 
arranged on a more or less reticulate plan, giving a spinulose margin 
to the spore. In /3. the sculpture is usually less pronounced, but the 
