4. LAMPRODERMA ARCYRIOIDES, Somm. Sporangium globose or ellipsoid, and somewhat elongated; the wall with tints of violet, purple, and blue, deciduous. Stipe usually short, or sometimes nearly obsolete, brown or blackish in color, arising from a strongly-developed hypothallus; the columella cylindric or slightly tapering upward, and obtuse, reaching nearly to the center of the sporangium. Capillitium of numerous pale-brown threads, radiating from the apex of the columella; these fork directly from the base, are bent and flexuous, and are combined into a dense, intricate net, with abundant free extremities. Spores globose, spinulose, violaceous, 13-16 mic. in diameter. 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.