32 
OHIO BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 
5. CLASTODERMA Blytt. 
Clastoderma debaryanum Biytt. Plate V, Fig, 9. 
Sporangia distinct, globose, stalked. Columella very short or scarcely 
evident. Capillitium arising from the short columella in a few sparingly 
branched threads, which bear at their tips the persistent fragments of the 
sporangium wall. 
1. C. debaryanum Blytt. Sporangia gregarious, globose, very small, 
0.15 to 0.2mm. in diam., brown, stalked. Sporangium wall persistent in 
circular or polygonal patches attached to the ultimate branches of the 
capillitium. Columella very short. Capillitium of pale brown, sparingly 
branched and anastomosing threads. Spores pale brown, smooth, 7 to 
lOmmm. in diam. 
(Miami Valley—Morgan), (Ohio—Macbride). 
FAMILY 4. AMAUROCHAETACEAE. 
Sporangia combined into an aethalium. Capillitium of dark irregular 
branching threads or of threads with peculiar chambered vesicles. 
KEY TO THE GENERA OF AMAUROCHAETACEAE. 
A. Capillitium of ragged strands. 1. Amaurochaete 
A. Capillitium of threads expanding into vesicles. 2. Brefeldia 
1. AMAUROCHAETE Rost. 
Amaurochaete fuliginosa (Sowerby) Macbride. Plate V, Fig. 5. 
Sporangia combined into an aethalium which is covered by a fragile 
silvery cortex. Capillitium springing from the base and consisting of 
numerous erect dark purple ragged strands, which branch and anastomose 
in a very irregular manner. 
1. A. fuliginosa (Sowerby) Macbride. Aethalia of various sizes and 
shapes, black, at first covered with a silvery cortex. Sporangium walls 
obsolete. Spores dull purple, spinulose, 11 to ISmmm. in diam. 
(Miama Valley—Morgan). 
2. BREFELDIA Rost. 
Brefeldia maxima (Fries) Rost. Plate V, Fig. 4. 
Aethalium consisting of subcylindrical, somewhat branched and 
confluent sporangia, rising from a base of spongy barren tissue. Capillit¬ 
ium of numerous horizontal threads, which unite at the surface of the 
adjacent sporangia to form many chambered vesicles. 
1. B. maxima (^Fries) Rost. Aethalium large, 2 to 30cm. in diam., 
purple brown. Capillitium consisting of numerous threads radiating from 
near the center of the sporangium, but free from the columella; the 
