COMATRICHA.] 
STEMONITACE^E. 
121 
2-3 mm. long, 0-5 mm. broad. Stalk black, often clothed with 
the c^rey membranous continuation of the sporangium-wall ; 
0-5 to 1-3 mm. long, O'OG mm. thick, rising from a well-developed 
hypothallus. Columella reaching nearly to the summit of the 
sporangium, branching at the apex. Capillitium a close network 
of flexuose, pale-brown threads, springing from all parts of the 
columella, the ultimate branches more slender, free, or continuous 
and looped in the lower half, resembling the superficial net of 
Stemonitis. Spores pale hlac-brown, marked with 3 to 5 dark, 
flattened warts on the hemisphere ; otherwise almost smooth, 
minutely warted or faintly reticulated, 3-5 to 7 diam. — Trichia 
typhoides Bull., Champ., p. 119 (1891). Stemonitis typhoides DC, 
Fl. Franc, ii., p. 257. Stemonitis typhina Wiggers, Prim. Fl. Hols., 
p. 110 (1780) ; Pers., Obs., i., 57 ; Mass., Mon., p. 74. Comatricha 
typhina Post., Mon., p. 197 (1875) ; Cooke, Myx. Brit., p. 47. G. 
affinis Post., Mon., p. 202. Stemonitis affinis Mass., Mon., p. 76. 
S. atra Mass., Mon., p. 78. S. Carlylei Mass., Mon., p. 84. 
a. genuina : sporangium- wall subpersistent ; spores 6 to 7 /x 
diam., surface almost smooth, or minutely warted between the 
larger warts. 
/3. heterospora Pex, in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil., 1893, p. 367 : 
sporangium- wall evanescent ; spores 5 to 6 /a diam. ; surface 
marked with faint, broken reticulation between the warts. 
y. microspora : sporangium-wall evanescent; spores 3'5 to 
4*5 /A diam., sculpture of spores as in f^. 
Plate XL VI., A. — a. sporangia, a. genuina, x 3^ ; c. dense and lax 
forms of capillitium, x 180 ; d, e. spores of the same, showing widely 
scattered warts, x 600 (England) ; /. sporangia, /3. heterospora, x 3^ ; 
g. spore, faintly reticulated between the warts, x 600 (U.S.A.) ; h. sporangia, 
y. mic.ros_pora , x 3^ ; i. capillitium, x 180;^". spore, x 600 (England); 
ii. spore of Stemonitis Virginicnsis Rex, x 600 (U.S.A.). 
Plate XLVI., B. — a. sporangia intermediate between a and /3, x 3^ ; b. 
capillitium, x 180 ; c. spore, minutely warted between the large scattered 
warts, X 600 (Iowa). 
The capillitium varies in the closeness of the network ; forms occur 
in which the threads are less flexuose, and bear nearly the same 
relation to the type as C. laxa to C. ohtusata. The scattered warts on 
the spores, the existence of which was first pointed out by Dr. Rex, 
is a character which, although requiring a high magnifying power to 
identify, is present in all the varieties given above, and is additional 
evidence that they all belong to a single species, y. microspora 
is represented by a gathering in perfect development from Lyme 
Regis ; in form and colour it resembles /3, but the spores are uni- 
formly minute. A specimen received from Mr. Morgan, Ohio, is 
almost identical, with spores of the same size. Specimens of C. 
typhoides, a., have been received from Prof. Macbride, Iowa, under the 
name of C. pidcliella (B. M. 1007) ; the sporangia are cylindrical, and 
the spores, which measure G to 7 /x, are marked with "minute warts, 
and a few inconspicuous larger warts. This form is connected with 
the more usual type by other specimens from Iowa with minutely 
warted spores in which the few larger warts are well developed 
(L:B.M.9I ; Plate XLVI., B., a. to c). The type of C. apniH Rest.. 
