[Plate XVII]., Fig. 5.

Sporangia gregarious, small, .3–.5 mm. in diameter or smaller, olivaceous or ochraceous, long-stipitate, nodding; stipe slender, dark brown or blackish, very long, reaching 6 mm., weak and flexuous; calyculus variable, sometimes well defined, brown, costate, sometimes represented by the costæ only connected by a thin, transparent membrane; net well differentiated, the meshes small, irregular, the nodes small, black, more or less globular, prominent, connected by transparent threads with occasional or a few free ends; spores in mass, olivaceous-ochraceous, under the lens pallid, globose, smooth, 5–7 µ.

Very common eastward and south, on the weathered surface of rotten wood. Generally easily recognized by its very long stipe, small, globose sporangium dotted with numerous small roundish nodules projecting plainly above the general surface. The obconic calyculus is always represented in the outline if not in definite structure.

New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Canada; Toronto,—Miss Currie.

11. Cribraria microcarpa (Schrad.) Persoon.

[Plate XVII]., Fig. 4.

Sporangia loosely gregarious, very small, .2–.3 mm. in diameter, yellow ochraceous, stipitate, nodding; stipe comparatively stout, dark brown or blackish, tapering upward, often twisted at the apex as in D. cancellatum; calyculus none, represented by simple ribs which give off at intervals free or floating branchlets before blending into the common net; net well developed, the meshes large, the nodes small, irregular, though often rounded and prominent, black, connected by delicate transparent threads, with free ends few or none; spore-mass yellow, fading to ochraceous; spores pale, smooth, globose, 6–7 µ.

This species resembles at first sight the preceding, and has been often mistaken for it. As a matter of fact, the distinctions are generally very sharp. In the first place, the sporangia, when carefully measured, are seen to be not more than half as great in diameter; the meshes of the net, on the other hand, are much wider, the whole structure more compact. The nodules are like those of tenella, but are much fewer. The stipe is shorter, the cup wanting, and the costæ are few and simple. The color suggests C. aurantiaca. The habitat and distribution as C. tenella.