the elaters; in the latter character it agrees with T. varia, but
differs in the spirals not being markedly more prominent on
the convex side of the bent elaters, the abrupt tips, and smaller
size of every part. The elaters are rarely more than 200 g
long.
Trichia minima, Mass.
Sporangia crowded, sessile on a broad base, circular, elliptical,
or irregular from mutual pressure, p a h primrosc-ydlow; mass
of daters and spores same colour; elaters cylindrical, 5—7 g
thick, ending in smooth, tapering points about 8— 10 g long,
spirals thin, rather distant, not prominent, without spines;
spores globose, very minutely warted, 10 /i diameter.
Trichia minima, Mass., Eev. Trich., p. 336, fig. 18.
On wood. Britain (Oldham).
Sporangia '5 mm. diameter, forming dense clusters. Allied
to T. scabra, but distinct iu the smaller size of every part, and
in the absence of spines on the spirals of the elaters.
Trichia contorta, Eost.
Plasmodiocarp creeping, flextmis, subcompressed, timber or hay-
hroton; mass of elaters and spores yellow; elaters 2’5—3'5 g,
cylindrical, tips usually swollen and terminated by a long,
slender spine; there is sometimes an interstitial swelling ; spirals
indistinct; spores globose, minutely warted, 12—15 g diameter.
Trichia contorta, Kost., Mon., p. 259, f. 229; Cooke, Myx.
Brit., f. 229; Schroeter, p. 113; Sacc., Syll., vol. vii., pt. I.,
no. 1503; Raunk., Myx. Dan., p. 68, t. 3, f. 13; Mass., Rev.
Trich., p. 337.
On rotten wood. Britain; Germany; France ; Denmark;
Sweden; Australia.
I have seen no specimen of the present species, which is
said to have occurred in Britain. The cylindrico-oompressed
flexuous plasmodiocarp of a dark hrown colour, and the elaters
with long, spine-like tips and indistinct spirals mark the species.
The elaters appear to agree in structure with those of Trichia
advenula, but the latter differs in every other character,
figure of the elater is copied from Rostafinski.
The
' (Rostafinski’s Synonyms.)
Lycogala coniortum, Dit., in Sturm. Dent. Cr. FL, t. 5 (1817).
Trichia reticulata, h., Grev. Sc. Cr. FL, t. 266 (1827).
Perichaena contorta, Fr., S. M., iii., 192 (1829).
Licea contorta, Wallr., FL Cr. Germ., n. 2110 (1833).
PImnitrichia contorta, Rost., ap Fckl. Syn., 2, Nach., p. 75
(1873).
Trichia subfusca, Rex.
Sporangia stipitate, simple, very rarely double or triple,
generally exactly spherical, exceptionally globose-turhinate,
about I of a mm. in diameter. Colour of sporangia, a dull
tawny brown above, shading to a dark brown at the base.
Stipes uniform in diameter, and equal in height to the diameter
of the sporangium, brown or brownish-black in colour, longitudinally
rugose and separated from the cavity of the sporangia
by the internal layer of the sporangium wall. Spores and
capillitium concolourous, of a bright yellow colour in mass.
Elaters cylindrical 3’5—4 g in diameter, terminating generally
in a smooth elongated end 10— 12 g long, which is either sharp
or blunt, straight or curved to one side. Spirals four in
number, non-spinulose, winding more or less unevenly, with
interspaces as wide or wider than the thickness of the spirals.
Spores 1 1 -5—12-5 g in diameter, delicately but distinctly warted.
Adirondack Mts., New York.
This Trichia is more nearly allied to some of the forms of
Tr. fragilis than to any other species. There seem, however,
to he sufficiently well-marked specific differences. In addition
to the different external characters, the elaters are undoubtedly
cylindrical in a majority of the specimens. Occasionally
individual sporangia are found in which the elaters are a little
thicker in the centre, narrowing slightly toward the ends, but
even these exceptions terminate abruptly in the same form of
ends as the true cylindrical elaters. Occasionally also, as with