Growing on old leaves, wood, etc. Sporangium .5-.8 mm. in diameter, the stipe variable in length from very short to 1 mm. long or beyond. Lamproderma columbinum, Pers. is a doubtful species, the forms of that name being easily distributed between the present species and L. physaroides.
5. Lamproderma scintillans, B. & Br. Sporangium globose; the wall shining with colors of blue, purple, and bronze, deciduous. Stipe long, slender, smooth, and shining, brown or blackish, rising from a thin, brown, common hypothallus; columella cylindric or slightly tapering to the obtuse apex, not reaching the center of the sporangium. Capillitium of numerous brown threads, originating about the apex of the columella; these fork several times, with few anastomosing branchlets, and terminate at the wall in long, free extremities. Spores globose, minutely warted, violaceous, 7–9 mic. in diameter. [See Plate XI, Fig. 28.]
Growing on old leaves, moss, etc., in early Spring. Sporangium .3-.5 mm. in diameter, the stipe from once to twice as long. This is Lamproderma irideum of Massee's Monograph. I am indebted to Arthur Lister, Esq., of London, for the identification of my specimens with Stemonitis scintillans, B. & Br., and with Lamproderma irideum, Cke.
III. COMATRICHA, Preuss. Sporangia various in shape, from globose or ovoid to oblong and cylindric, stipitate; the wall very thin and fugacious. Stipe more or less elongated, smooth and black, arising from a common hypothallus, tapering upward, entering the sporangium and prolonged nearly or quite to the apex as a columella. Capillitium arising from numerous points of the columella throughout its entire length; the threads immediately branching and anastomosing to form an interior network, attaining the wall by numerous more or less elongated free extremities. Spores globose, brown or violaceous.
This genus is not sharply limited from Stemonitis. The species with very short free ends, and consequently with superficial meshes approximate to the wall, are near the form of Stemonitis. But it may be observed that in these species, the meshes of the capillitium become smaller gradually outward, the sides of the superficial meshes are arched away from the wall, and they are in contact with it only by the free extremities.
§1. Typhoides. Threads of the capillitium repeatedly branching and anastomosing, to form a dense network of small meshes, with innumerable short, free extremities.
1. Comatricha typhina, Roth. Sporangia short, erect or a little curved, cylindric or usually narrowing slightly upward, the base quite blunt, the apex more rounded, growing together on a thin hypothallus. Stipe and columella brown or blackish, tapering upward and vanishing near the apex of the sporangium, the stipe much shorter than the columella. Capillitium of slender flexuous tawny-brown threads; these branch repeatedly, forming an intricate network of small irregular meshes, ending in very short free extremities. Spores globose, violaceous, very minutely warted, 6–8 mic. in diameter.
Growing on old wood, mosses, etc. Sporangium with the stipe 2–4 mm. in height, the stipe much the shorter, the sporangium .35-.40 mm. in thickness. Stemonitis typhoides, Fries, S. M.
2. Comatricha æqualis, Pk. Sporangia usually more or less inclined or curved and nodding, cylindric, obtuse at each end, growing together on a thin hypothallus. Stipe and columella slender, smooth, black, extending nearly or quite to the apex of the sporangium, the stipe longer than the columella. Capillitium of very slender flexuous tawny-brown threads; these branch repeatedly, forming an intricate network of small irregular meshes, ending in very short free extremities. Spores globose, minutely warted, dark violaceous, 7–9 mic. in diameter.
Growing on old wood. Sporangium 1.5–3 mm. in height by .35-.40 mm. in thickness, the stipe usually about the same length as the sporangium, but sometimes nearly twice as long. The capillitium is rather looser than in C. typhina, whence the drooping habit. Peck, Thirty-first Report, p. 42.