Chapter I: LACHNOBOLUS, Fr. Sporangia stipitate or sessile, the wall a thin

delicate membrane, minutely granulose, rupturing irregularly. Stipe short or sometimes wanting. Capillitium of slender tubules quite variable in thickness, proceeding from numerous points of the sporangial wall and forming a complicated network, the surface minutely warted or spinulose. Spores globose, yellowish or flesh-color.

This genus differs from Arcyria in the capillitium springing from numerous points of the sporangial wall.

1. LACHNOBOLUS GLOBOSUS, Schw. Sporangia globose, stipitate, pale yellow, changing to clay-color; the wall thin and delicate, pellucid, minutely granulose, the upper part torn away and soon disappearing, the lower half more persistent. Stipe short, tapering upward, expanding at the base into a small hypothallus. Capillitium arising from the lower portion of the sporangium, forming a complicated network, the threads 3-5 mic. in thickness, the surface closely covered with minute warts. Spores globose, pale yellow to clay-color in mass, 8-9 mic. in diameter. See Plate I, Fig. 15.

Growing on the spines of Chestnut burs. Sporangia .5-.6 mm. in diameter, the stipe shorter than the sporangium.

2. LACHNOBOLUS INCARNATUS, A. & S. Sporangia globose or ellipsoidal, substipitate, closely crowded and seated on a common hypothallus; the wall thin and delicate, pellucid, minutely granulose, dehiscing irregularly. Stipe very short or often obsolete. Capillitium proceeding from the inner surface of the sporangial wall, forming a complicated network, the threads extremely variable in thickness, minutely warted and spinulose. Spores globose, flesh-color in the mass, 8-9 mic. in diameter.

Growing on old wood. Sporangia .5-.8 mm. in height, sessile on a narrow base or with a very short stipe; the threads of the capillitium are generally 3-5 mic. in thickness, but there are broader expansions at the nodes and elsewhere. My specimens are from Prof. McBride, of Iowa. The species is extremely variable, and these specimens differ much from those described elsewhere.