es.

5. COMATRICHA CRYPTA, Schw. Sporangia cylindric, bent or flexuous and
more or less inclined, growing close together on a conspicuous
purplish-brown hypothallus. Stipe and columella smooth and black,
tapering upward and reaching the apex of the sporangium, the columella
bent and flexuous or spirally twisted, about as long as the stipe.
Capillitium composed of irregular, bent and uneven threads, which are
brown below, becoming colorless outwardly; the threads branch a few
times, forming a network of large irregular meshes, sometimes much
defective; the free extremities irregular and unequal, simple or
branched. Spores globose, brown, minutely warted, 7-9 mic. in diameter.
See Plate XI, Fig. 30.

Growing out of fissures of the bark and wood of Hickory, Acer, etc.
Sporangium with the stipe 4-7 mm. in height, the stipe a little shorter,
or sometimes much longer than the sporangium, the latter .25-.30 mm. in
thickness. The exterior colorless portion of the capillitium is
exceedingly delicate, easily breaking away and leaving the capillitium
quite irregular and defective. _Stemonitis crypta_, Schweinitz's N. A.
Fungi, 2351. _Comatricha irregularis_, Rex, is the same thing.

6. COMATRICHA CAESPITOSA, Sturgis. Sporangia short, clavate, densely
crowded or caespitose upon a delicate hypothallus; the wall
subpersistent, silvery, shining with tints of purple and blue. Stipe
very short or nearly obsolete, the columella rising to two-thirds or
three-fourths the height of the sporangium. Capillitium of slender
dark-brown threads, which branch and anastomose quite irregularly,
forming a network of intermingled large and small meshes, ending in
long, tapering, free extremities. Spores globose, minutely spinulose,
dark violaceous, 10-12 mic. in diameter.

Growing on moss and lichens, at Wood's Holl, Massachusetts. Sporangium
1-1.5 mm. in height, the stipe very short or sometimes apparently
wanting. I am indebted to Dr. W. C. Sturgis, of New Haven, Conn., for a
specimen of this unique species.

7. COMATRICHA LONGA, Peck. Sporangia very slender and much elongated,
tapering gradually upward, weak and prostrate or pendulous, growing
close together on a well-developed purplish-black hypothallus. Stipe and
columella capillary, smooth and black, reaching to the apex of the
sporangium or often vanishing in the network far below it, the stipe
very short, the columella long and flexible. Capillitium of long,
slender, dark-brown threads;