ubifera_ Gmelin, _Syst. Nat._, II., p. 1472.

Sporangia tubular, by mutual pressure more or less prismatic, connate,
pale ferruginous-brown, iridescent, the walls thin, slightly granular,
long-persistent; dehiscence apical; hypothallus thick, spongiose, white
or whitish; spore-mass ferruginous.

This genus is easily recognized by the tubular sporangia, destitute of
capillitial threads, seated upon a strongly developed hypothallus. The
synonymy of the case is somewhat difficult. It is possible that
Mueller's _Tubulifera ceratum, Fl. Dan._, Ellevte Haefte, 1775, p. 8,
may belong here, but neither the text nor the figures make it certain.
Neither he nor OEder, who gives us _T. cremor_ in the same work, had
any accurate idea of the objects described. Gmelin's description of
_Tubifera_, II., 2, 1472, is, however, ample, and his citations of
Bulliard's plates leave no doubt as to the forms he included. Gmelin
writes: "Thecae (membranae expansae superimpositae) inter se connatae
seminibus nudiusculis repletae."

Why, in face of so good a description, Persoon changed the name to that
since current, _Tubulina_, is not clear.

Fries thinks Mueller had an immature _Arcyria_ before him, _Syst. Myc._,
III., p. 196. _Tubulifera arachnoidea_ Jacq., 1778, is also an uncertain
quantity, insufficiently described.

=Key to the Species of Tubifera=

_A._ Hypothallus well developed, but not conspicuous.

_a._ Pseudo-columellae none 1. _T. ferruginosa_

_b._ Pseudo-columellae present at least in many
of the tubules 2. _T. casparyi_

_B._ Hypothallus prominent, columnar 3. _T. stipitata_

1. TUBIFERA FERRUGINOSA (_Batsch_) _Macbr._

PLATE I., Fig. 4; PLATE VII., Fig. 8; PLATE XII., Fig. 14.

1786. _Stemonitis ferruginosa_ Batsch, _Elench._, p. 261, Fig. 175.
1791. _Sphaerocarpus cylindricus_ Bull., _Champ._, p. 140, t. 470,
III.
1791. _Tubifera ferruginosa_ Gmelin, _Syst. Nat._, 1472 (_ex parte_).
1805. _Tubulina cylindrica_ (Bull.) DC., _Fl. Fr._, 671.
1875. _Tubulina cylindrica_ (Bull.) Rost., _Mon._, p. 220.
1894. _Tubulina fragiformis_ (Pers.) Lister, _Mycetozoa_, p. 153.

Sporangia crowded, cylindric or prismatic, elongate, connate, more or
less distinct above, pale umber-brown, generally simple though
occasionally branched above, the peridia thin, sometimes fragile, but
generally persistent, transparent,