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regularly arranged and corresponding to the apices of the
component sporangia; columella (stylidia) brown, slender,
capillary, aggregated, but for the most part individually free;’
capillitium loosely interwoven into a common mass; mass of
spores brown.
Stemmiitis Tuhdina, Alb. and Schu. Consp., p. 102.
On decorticated pines. Germany.
From the description given by Albertini and Schweinitz, I
have very little doubt but that the organism they had iu view
was Siphoptyclikim Casparyi, Rost.
In Saccardo’s Sylloge, vii., p. 399, the following synonyms and
remarks are given.
Stemonitis fusca, var. ¡3 Fr. Syst. Myc., iii.; Amaurochaete
speciosa, Zukal, Eni. Pilze Myx. Bact., p. 5, t. 16, f. 3.
According to Raciborski, Hedw. 1887, p. 3, the above species
IS neither a species of Stemonitis nor Amaurochaete, hut a new
genus described under the name of Juudzillia, Racib.
Siphoptychium. Rost.
Sporangia sessile, densely crowded, springing from a well-
developed hypothallus, cylindrical, or prismatic from mutual
pressure, the whole forming a naked aethalium; wall of sporangium
single, thin; columella central, springing from the
hypothallus and reaching to the apex of the sporangium, tubes
of capillitium rather scanty, radiating from the columella to the
wall of the sporangium.
Siphoptychium, Rost., Mon., App., p. 32; Cke., Myx. Brit.,
p. 83; Sacc., Syll., vol. vii., part I., p. 417.
The general habit and appearance of some species of Tubulina
from which the present genus differs in the presence of a
central columella and capillitium; yet the general structure
and arrangement of the sporangia and the spore sculpture of
the only known species is so thorouglily that of Ttibulina
cylindrica, that it seems very probable that the present genus
is an evolution from the last-named species, or some close ally,
the columella and radiating tubes being derived from modified
sporangial walls.
Siphoptychium Casparyi, Rost. (fig. 111.)
Sporangia crowded on a well-developed hypothallus, elongated,
cylindrical or prismatic from mutual pressure, apices slightly
convex, wall thin, brownish, iridescent; mass of spores umber;
columella thin, reaching nearly or quite to apex of sporangium,
tubes of capillitium simple, rarely branched, springing from the
columella and extending to wall of sporangium; spores globose,
with a minutely raised network, 7—9 g diameter.
Siphoptychium Oasparyi, Eost., Mon., Append., p. 32, fig. 24.5 ;
Sacc., Syll, vii., 1, n. 1423.
Exsicc.—Ellis and Everh., N. Amer. Fung., n. 2092.
On wood, &c. United States.
Sporangia up to '5 cm. high, and about '5 mm. diameter of
equal height, and densely packed side by side, forming cakelike
aethalia, stated in letter from Dr. Rex, of Philadelphia,
who has collected this species in abundance, to average from
three to five inches in diameter; but one aethalium collected in
the Adirondack Mountains, N. Y., measured one foot and a
half in length by one foot in width, with various prolongations
besides.
Amaurochaete, Rost.
Aethalium consisting of numerous elongated, naked sporangia,
compacted together in several layers, and enclosed in a common
delicate cortex; the capillitium consists of several columellalike,
erect tubes springing from the base of the aethalium, and
anastomosing amongst themselves form tree-like branches,
which along with the secondary branches combine to form an
irregular network; angles of the larger forks of the capillitium
connected for some distance by a thin web-like membrane.
Amaurochaete, Rost., Mon., p. 210; Cke., Myx. Brit., p. 52;
Sacc., Syll, p. 401.
Closely related to if indeed distinct from Bctictdaria.
Distrib. Europe; United States. Species 1.
Amaurochaete atra, Rost.
Aethalium variable in size, pulvinate, covered with a thin,