172 
ENDOSPOREiE. 
[trichia. 
ing point, 20 to 40 /a long, the spirals continued almost to the 
extremity; spores orange-yellow. — T. lateritia Ldv., I.e. 
Hah. On wood. 
y. flavicoma : sporangia minute ; stalks brown, 0-25 mm. long ; 
elaters bright yellow, of the form a ; spores yellow. 
Hah. On dead leaves. 
8. subfusca ; stalks purple-brown, 0-5 mm. long ; elaters bright 
yellow, of the form spores bright yellow. — T. suhfusca Rex, I.e. 
Hah. On wood. 
Plate LXII., B. — a. var. a. gennina, sporangia, x 20 ; b, c. elaters, x 600 ; 
d. spore, X 600 (England) ; e. var. jS. lateritia, sporangia, x 20 ; /, g, h. 
elaters, x 600 ; i. spore, x 600 (Germany) ; var. y. Jlavicuma, sporangia, 
X 20 ; k. elater, x 600 (England) ; I. var. S. st(bfv,sca, sporangium, x 20 ; 
m. elater, x 600 ; n. spore, x 600 (United States). 
The various characters distinguishing the different forms of this 
abundant species blend freely into one another, but the colour of 
the capillitium and spores is generally associated with a form of the 
elaters of suflBcient constancy to enable the specimens to be classed 
under the above varieties. The three varieties given by Rostafinski 
are distinguished by the colour of the sporangia, and of the capillitium 
and spores when seen in mass ; but the colour of the sporaugium 
is a character which varies so widely that it cannot be taken as 
marking constant types ; specimens in the Strassburg Herbarium 
have sessile, black, and brittle sporangia associated with others of 
brown and bright nut colour ; a few have long stalks, and others are 
clustered on a common stem. In a large cultivation from a single 
growth of Plasmodium at Lyme Regis, the sporangia are either olive 
or rosy-purple, marbled over with yellow lines of dehiscence, or almost 
uniformly black. T. lateritia Lev., from ChUi (K. 1761), here taken 
as the type of var. j3, has nearly black sporangia, but other gatherings 
from England and the Continent, with similar characters of capillitium 
and spores, have either black, rosy, or brown sporangia. The " simple " 
or " hotrytis " forms are mingled in most large gatherings, but the 
" hotrytis " form is most frequent in var. /3. The type specimen of 
T. Decaisneana de Bary, in the Strassburg Herbarium, is included 
under var. /3 ; the elaters are remarkably long, suddenly narrowing to 
a point 10 to 15 in length, from a subterminal bulb ; a similar bulb 
occurs in the middle of some of the elaters ; the occurrence of bulbous 
swellings in the elaters is so frequent and at the same time so incon- 
stant in many species of Trichia that it can scarcely be received as a 
specific character. T. Carlyleana Mass. is the form a with minutely 
spinulose spores, perhaps more nearly smooth than may be considered 
typical. T. pwjmrascens Nyl., of which a type specimen has been 
furnished by Prof. Blytt, is also form a, and has dull purple sporangia ; 
the spores average 10 diam., and are minutely spinulose. The form y 
flavicoma has been obtained from Moffat, and on four separate occa- 
sions on leaves at Lyme Regis ; the sporangia are brown, or purple 
with yellow hnes of dehiscence, and the elaters bright yellow. T. suh- 
fusca Rex, here placed as var. S of T. Boirytis, has dull brown sporangia, 
and differs from var. y only in the ends of the elaters being shorter 
and with more prominent spirals, a chai'acter of not sufficient import- 
ance to give the form specific rank. 
