I 
Bean—The Myxomycetes of Wisconsin. 1253 
Stemonitis maxima Schweinitz, 
1834. Stemonitis maxima Schw., N. A. F ., p. 260, No. 2349. 
Macbride: ‘ 1 Sporangia in more or less widely scattered tufts 
at first dark brown or purple black, at length gray, always with 
a purplish tinge, long cylindric, even, 10-15 mm. in height, 
stipitate; stipe polished, black and shining, about % the total 
height, expanded below into a thin hypothallus, which is con¬ 
tinuous, transparent, shining; columella dissipated near the 
apex; capillitium consisting of an inner network of very loose, 
open structure, an outer net of small 14-56/*) meshes more or less 
abundantly supplied with projecting peridial processes; spores 
dark violaceous, the surface reticulate, 7-8/*. ” He says this is 
the commonest American species. The rough-netted epispore in¬ 
stantly distinguishes it. The sporangia are long and slender in 
tufts, spreading from the center. The inner network of rich 
brown threads tends to show expanded nodes; sometimes the 
threads are thickened throughout. The columella often fails of 
reaching the apex of the sporangium, becoming completely dis¬ 
solved in capilitial branches. 
Lister adopts the name S. fusca Roth. ‘ ‘ Plasmodium white in 
rotten wood, maturing at the place of emergence. Total height 
5-20 mm. Sporangia cylindrical, obtuse, stalked, brownish-pur¬ 
ple, at first closely fasciculate. Stalk black, shining, 1-4 mm, 
long, rising from a well developed brown membranous hypothal¬ 
lus. Columella reaching to near the apex of the sporangium.’ v 
He finds the spores grey or rufous-violet, reticulated with rows 
of minute spines or with raised bands, and 8-10/i in diameter. 
He finds great variations in the surface-markings of the spores ; 
he finds sporangia widely differing in length and in stalks. 
Massee differs but little. He calls the walls blackish, reflect¬ 
ing metallic tints, evanescent; peripheral meshes of the capilli¬ 
tium much larger than the diameter of the spores; mass of spores 
blackish brown; spores globose, very minutely verruculose, 5-10/1, 
in diameter. A fine large species, distinguished amongst the 
dark-spored species by the large peripheral meshes of the capilli¬ 
tium. 
There is a great variation in the color and size of the sporangia 
and the proportion of the stipe, in the specimens that I have of 
