Related, no doubt, to _C. longa_, but differing in habit, stature, as in texture and structure of the capillitium. In _C. longa_ the inner net is extremely simple,--a row or two of meshes at most, and the radiating branches are long and straight; in the species before us the inner network is well developed, and the radiating branches proportionately shorter and abundantly branching, with pale or white free tips. Generally, though not always, found growing in the crevices of the bark on fallen logs of various deciduous trees. September. Not common. This is thought to be _C. crypta_ Schw., _N. A. F._, 2351; but the description under that number does not make clear what form Schweinitz had before him, the present species or _C. longa_, and the herbarium specimen of Schweinitz is "utterly lost"; the later specific name is accordingly adopted. New England west to the Cascade Mountains; south to Kansas and Texas. 6. COMATRICHA LAXA _Rostafinski._ PLATE V., Figs. 5, 5 _a_. 1875. _Comatricha laxa_ Rost., _Mon._, p. 201. 1877. _Lamproderma ellisiana_ Cooke, _Myx. U. S._, p. 397. 1891. _Comatricha ellisiana_ (Cooke) Ell. & Ev., _N. A. F._, 2696. Sporangia scattered, gregarious, sub-globose or short cylindric, and obtuse, dusky stipitate; stipe short, black, tapering rapidly upward from an expanded base; hypothallus scant or none; columella erect, rigid, sometimes reaching nearly to the apex of the sporangium, sometimes dichotomously branched a little below the summit, before blending into the common capillitium; capillitium lax, of slender, horizontal branches, anastomosing at infrequent intervals and ending in short, free tips; spores pallid, nearly smooth, 7-9.5 mu. A very minute, delicate little species, about 1-1/2 mm. high; the stipe half the total height. In general appearance the shorter forms of the species resemble slightly _C. nigra_, but are distinguished by a much shorter stipe and much more open capillitium. The sporangia of _C. nigra_ mounted on long capillary stipes always droops more or less; the sporangia of the present species stand rigidly erect. The sporangia vary in form and in the branching of the columella. In the more globose phases, the columella almost always shows a peculiar dichotomy near the apex; in the cylindric types, this peculiar division fails.[36] In fact, the shape is determined chiefly by the mode of branching as affects the columella. Rostafinski's figure, on Tab. XIII, does not present the type usually seen in this country, nor even in Europe if we may judge from later illustrations. The species with us has received various names, but so far as can be determined, all apply to the same thing, and comparison of specimens from Mr. Ellis with those from Europe show the correctness of the nomenclature here adopted. Rare, but widely distributed; across the continent. 7. STEMONITIS SUKSDORFII _Ell. & Everh._ PLATE XI., Figs. 9, 10, 11.