Slljr i. B. Btll iUtbrarg Nortly (Earalina ^tat^ IniiiprHttu QK535 Ml?, 800297 7 771 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE DATE INDICATED BELOW AND IS SUB- JECT TO AN OVERDUE FINE AS POSTED AT THE CIRCULATION DESK. OFC 1 4 1977 APR 3 0 1986 ^P^2 7 1995 APR 7 1996 MAY ^j?o, N ^ MAY f^im THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS A DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ALL SPECIES OF MYXOMYCETES HITHERTO REPORTED FROM THE CONTINENT OF NORTH AMERICA WITH NOTES ON SOME EXTRA-LIMITAL SPECIES BY THOMAS H. MACBRIDE STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PKi NEW AND REVISED EDITION THE MACxMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd. 1922 All rights riserued Copyright, 1899. By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. Copyright, 1922, By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. (ITije Clio ll^ttiS Iowa City, Iowa, U. S. A. •IN • MEMORIAM- • SAMUELIS . CALVINI • SCIENTIAE . NATURALIS • IN • UNIVERSITATE • lOWENSI • NUPER . PROFESSORIS • . PRAECEPTORIS • COMITIS • AMICI- •HUNC • LIBRUM- • GRATO . ANIMO • DEDICAT- •DISCIPULUS- ifv^ "Ihr naht euch wieder schwankende Gestalten, Die friih sich einst dem triiben Blick gezeigt." Goethe. "Diese Kinder der Natur, welche aus einer ungeformten Gallert, und einem unsichtbaren Saamen entstehen, sind im stande, in dem sie sich nach und nach entwickeln und ihre scheinbar nachlassige Bildung genau beobachten (lassen), eben so sehr als die schonste Pflanze, einem empfindenden Herzen die tiefe Achtung und das paradiesische Verniigen zu verschaffen, welches einzig die Betrachtung der Heere der Natur und ihre gleichbleibende Erhaltung durch eine ewige Kraft hervorbringen kann." A. J. G. C. Batsch 1783. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Preface ix Preface to Secon'd Edition xiii Bibliography xv Introductory 1 The Myxomycetes 17 Addenda 282 Index of Genera 289 Index of Species 290 Plates, with Explanations 301 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION^ The present work has grown out of a monograph entitled Myxomycetes of Eastern Iowa, published by the present author about eight years ago. The original work was intended chiefly for the use of the author's own pupils; but interest in the subject proved much wider than had been supposed, and a rather large edition of that little work was speedily exhausted. At that time literature on the subject in question — literature accessible to English readers — was scant indeed. Cooke's translation of Rostafinski, in so far as con- cerned the species of Great Britain, was practically all there was to be consulted in English. In 1892 appeared in London Massee's Monograph of the Myxogastres, and two years later in the same world's centre the trustees of the British Museum brought out Lister's Mycetozoa. Although these two English works both claim revision of the entire group under discussion, the latter paying special attention to Amer- ican forms, nevertheless there still seems place for a less pretentious volume which for American students shall present succinct descrip- tions of North American species only. The material basis of the present work consists of collections now in the herbarium of the State University of Iowa. In accumulating the material the author has had the generous assistance of botanists in all parts of the coun- try, from Alaska to Panama, and the geographical distribution is in most cases authenticated by specimens from the localities named. The descriptions, in case of species represented in Europe, are based upon those of European authors; for forms first described in this country, the original descriptions have been consulted. A bibli- ography follows this preface. In reference to the omnipresent vexed question of nomenclature, a word is perhaps necessary. De Candolle's rule, "The first authentic specific name published under the genus in which the species now 1 The North American Slime Moulds, 1899. X PREFACE stands," may be true philosophy, but it is certainly an open question how that rule shall be applied. If an author recognized and defined a given species in times past, and, in accordance with views then held, assigned the species to a particular genus, common honesty, it would seem, would require that his work be recognized. To assume that any later writer who may choose to set to familiar genera limits unknown before shall thereby be empowered to write all species so displaced his own, as if, forsooth, now for the first time in the history of science published or described, is not only absolutely and in- excusably misleading, but actually increases by just so much the amount of debris with which the taxonomy of the subject is already cumbered. In face of a work so painstaking and voluminous as that of Rostafinski, and in view of the almost universal confusion that pre- ceded him, it would seem idle to change for reasons purely technical the nomenclature which the Polish author has established. Especially is this true in the case of organisms so very perishable and fragile as those now in question where comparative revision is apt to result in uncertainty. We had preferred to leave the Rostafinskian, i. e. the heretofore current nomenclature, untouched ; but since other writers have preferred to do otherwise, we are compelled to recognize the resultant confusion. Slime-moulds have long attracted the attention of the student of nature. For nearly two hundred years they find place more or less definite in botanical literature. Micheli, 1729, figures a number of them, some so accurately that the identity of the species is hardly to be questioned. Other early writers are Buxbaum and Dillenius. But the great names before Rostafinski are Schrader, Persoon, and Fries. Schrader's judgment was especially clear. In his Nova Genera, 1797, he recognizes plainly the difference between slime- moulds and everything else that passed by the name of fungus, and proposed that they should be set off in a family by themselves,^ but he suggested no definite name. Nees (C. G.) also made the same observation in 1817, and proposed the name Mrogastres; but he cites as type of his aerogastres, Eurotium, and includes so many ^ Schrader, Nova Plantarum Genera, 1797, pp. vi-vii. PREFACE XI fungi, that it seems unsafe now to approve his nomenclature. Schrader also has left an excellent account of the cribrarias, the basis of all that has since been attempted in that genus. Persoon, in his Synopsis j 1801, attempts a review of all the fungi known up to that time. His notes and synonymy are invaluable, enabling us to understand the references of many of the earlier authors where these had otherwise been indefinite if not unintelli- gible. He makes a great many changes in nomenclature, and excuses himself on the ground that he follows, in this particular, illustrious examples! Unfortunately, so do we all! Fries, in his Systema Mycologicum, 1829, summed up in most wonderful way the work of all his predecessors and the mycologic science of his time. In reading Fries the modern student hardly knows which most to admire, the author's far-reaching, patient re- search, the singular acumen of his taxonomic instinct, the graceful exactness of the Latin in which his conclusions are expressed, or the delicate courtesy with which he touches the work even the most primitive, of those his predecessors or contemporaries. Nevertheless in our particular group even the determinations of Fries are not con- clusive. He himself often confesses as much. The microscopic tech- nique of that day did not yield the data needful for minute compari- son among these most delicate forms. It remained for DeBary and Rostafinski to introduce a new factor into the description of species, and by spore-measurement and the delineation of microscopic detail to supply an element of definiteness which has no parallel in the work of any earlier student of this group. Under these conditions the revision undertaken by Ros- tafinski was of a most heroic sort. His work was almost a new beginning; and while in nomenclature he was inclined to follow the Paris Code, yet the inadequacy of the earlier descriptions often made such a course impracticable. The synonymy of Rostafinski is largely that of Fries, and upon this the Polish author attempts to apply the law of priority. In the historical note, wzmianka historyczna, ac- companying the description of each specific form, he generally states the reason for the nomenclature he adopts, whether selected from the mass of supposed synonymy or introduced by himself de novo. Un- xii PREFACE fortunately, Rostafinski is sometimes purely arbitrary in his selec- tions. He sometimes changes a specific or even generic name, otherwise correctly applied, simply because in primary etymological significance the name seems to him inappropriate. In such cases it is proper to restore the earlier name. Nevertheless Rostafinski is still our most trustworthy guide. Of course, where later investigations have served to obliterate the once-thought patent distinctions between supposed genera or species, it is proper to unite such forms under the older determinable titles and this we have attempted. But wherever in the present work a name has been changed, the name of the earlier author will be found in parenthesis, followed immediately by that of him who made the change, and in general, recent practice, especially as expressed in the rules of the various codes, has determined the puzzling questions of nomenclature. In justification of the use of Myxomycetes as a general title it may be said that in this case prevalent usage is not inconsistent with a rational application of the rules of priority. The Friesian designa- tion Myxogastres was applied by its author in 1829 to the endo- sporous slime-moulds as a section of gasteromycetous fungi. Four years later Link, perceiving more clearly the absolute distinctness of the group, substituted the name Myxomycetes. In the same year Wall roth adopted the same designation, but strangely confused the limitations of the group he named. Wallroth seems to have thought Myxomycetes a synonym for Gasteromycetes Fries. In 1858 DeBary applied the title Mycetozoa to a group which included the then lately discovered Acrasieae with the true slime-moulds, both endo- sporous and exosporous. For all except the Acrasieae DeBary re- tained the old appellation, Myxomj'cetcs. Rostafinski adopted DeBary 's general name, but changed its application. As it has been shown, since DeBary 's time, that the Acrasieae'^ have no true Plasmo- dium, and are therefore not properly, or at least not necessarily, associated with the slime-moulds, there appears no necessity for the term Mycetozoa, and the question lies between Myxogastres and Myxomycetes. Of these two names the former, as we have seen, has ^ Cf. Edgar W. Olive, Monograph of the Acrasieae; Boston, 1902. PREFACE xiii undoubted priority, but only as applied to the endosporous species. The same thing was true of Link's designation until DeBary re- defined it, but having been taken up by DeBary, redefined and correctly applied, Myxomycetes (Link) DeBary must remain the undisputed title for all true slime-moulds, endosporous and exo- sporous alike. In arranging the larger divisions of the group the scheme of Rostafinski has been somewhat modified in order to give expression to what the present author deems a more natural sequence of species. The highest expression of myxomycetan fructification is doubtless the isolated sporangium with its capillitium. This is reached by succes- sive differentiations from the simple Plasmodium. The asthalium may be esteemed in some instances a case of degeneration, in others of arrested development. In any event in the present arrangement, aethalioid forms are first disposed of, leaving the sporangiate species to follow from plasmodiocarpous as directly as may be. The artificial keys herewith presented proceed on the same plan and are to be taken, as such keys always are, not as definitive in any case, but simply as an aid to help the student more speedily to reach a probably satisfactory description. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION The first edition of this little book having been exhausted long ago, the writer in this second issue takes opportunity to correct sundry errata, typographical and other, and at the same time to incorporate such new information in reference to individual species and to the subject entire as the researches of more recent years may aflford. To Miss Gulielma Lister, of London, the writer expresses his sense of deep obligation for much assistance in settling difficult mat- ters of nomenclature and identification ; it will be found as a result that in most instances the same thing in the two volumes, English and American, appears under the same name. There are still dif- xiv PREFACE ferences; these result in most cases from different points of view, different estimates or emphasis of characteristics in these ever elusive objects. To Professor Torrend, formerly of Lisbon, the writer is indebted for a set of European types, and to Professor Bethel, pathologist of Denver, for rich material from the fertile mountains of Colorado and California. To Professor Morton Peck, of Oregon, we are in- debted for many notes of the color of plasmodia and for collections of Pacific coast forms. Mr. Bilgram, of Philadelphia, read the manu- script of the genus Physarum and has contributed many rare species. To Dr. Sturgis, of Massachusetts, we are indebted for material from both east and west. The present volume is intended especially for American readers and is accordingly particularly devoted to a discussion of species so far reported on the western continent; nevertheless it has seemed wise to include a brief description of some other forms as well, and reference to many extra-limital species now generally recognized will be found here and there in connection with the more extended treat- ment of related American forms. February twenty-eight, 1921. At the last moment, nearly all plates and drawings of the first edition disappeared ! necessitating a quick renewal of drawings and plates. This may in part explain lack of uniformity, and various minor irregularities sure to grieve the intelligent student. BIBLIOGRAPHY The following are the principal works consulted in the prose- cution of the investigations here recorded : — 1763. Adanson, M. Families des Plantes. 1805. Albertini — see under Schweinitz. 1841. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. London, various vol- umes: 1841, Ser. I., vol. vi. ; 1850, Sen II., vol. v. 1887. Annals of Botany, vols, i-xxxi. 1783. Batsch, A. J. G. C. Elenchus Fungorum ; with Continuatio I. 1786; Continuatio II. 1789. 1775. Battara, A. Fungorum Agri Arimensis Historia. 1860. Berkeley, M. J. Outlines of Fungology. 1789. Bolton, J. History of Funguses about Halifax. 1851. Bonorden, H. F. Mycologie. 1875. Botanical Gazette, The. Various volumes to 1921, 1843. Botanische Zeitung. Various volumes to 1898. 1892. Bulletin Laboratories Nat. Hist. Iowa, vol. ii. 1873. Bulletin Torrey Botanical Club. Various volumes to 1898. 1791. Bulliard, P. Histoire des Champignons de la France. 1721. Buxbaum, J. C. Enumeratio Plantarum. 1863. Cienkowski, L. Zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Myxomyceten. 1893. Celakowsky, L. Die Myxomyceten Boehmens. 1871. Cooke, M. C. Handbook of British Fungi. 1877. Cooke, M. C. Myxomycetes of Great Britain. 1877. Cooke, M. C. Myxomycetes of the United States. 1837. Corda, A. I. C. Icones Fungorum. 1854. Currey, F., in Quart. Journal Microscopical Science. 1848. Curtis, M. A. Contributions to the Mycology of North America; Am. Journal of Science and Arts. 1859. De Bary, A. H. Die Mycetozoen. 1866. De Bary, A. H. Morphologie der Pilze, Mycetozoen und Bacterien. 1802. De Candolle, A. P. Flore Frangaise. 1719. Dillenius, J. J. Catalogus Plantarum circa Cissam nascentium. 1813. Ditmar, L. P. F., Sturm, Deutschlands Flora, 3te Abtheil ; Die Pilze Deutschlands. 1878. Ellis, J. B. North American Fungi. Exskcati. et seq. 1818. Ehrenberg, C. G. Sylvae Mycologies Berolinenses. 1761. Flora, Danica, vol. i. ; also vols. iii. iv. v. 1817. Fries, Elias M. Symbolae Gasteromycetum. 1818. Fries, Elias M. Observationes Mycologies. xvi BIBLIOGRAPHY 1829. Fries, Elias M. Systema Mycologicum. 1873. Fuckel, I. Symbola; Mycologicae. 1791. Gmelin, C. C. Systema Nature, Tom. II., Pars. ii. 1823. Greville, R. K. Scottish Cryptogamic Flora. 1872. Grevillea, various volumes to 1897. 1751. Hill, Sir John. A History of Plants. 1795. Hoffman, G. C. Deutschlands Flora. 1773. Jacquin, N. I. Miscellanea Austriaca, 1885. Journal of Mycology and seq. 1878. Karsten, Mycologia Fennica. 1809. Link, H. F. Nova Plantarum Genera. 1753. Linne, C. Systema Naturae — to 1767. 1894. Lister, Arthur. The Mycetozoa ; 1911, Second Edition, revised by Gulielma Lister. 1892. Massee, George. Monograph of the Myxogastres. 1729. Micheli, P. A. Nova Plantarum Genera. 1892. Morgan, A. P. Myxomycetes of the Miami Valley — to 1895. 1816. Nees, Ch. G. D. Das System der Pilze und Schwamme. 1837. Nees, T. F. L. et A. Henry. Das System der Pilze. 1869. Peck, Charles H. Reports N. Y. State Museum Nat. History — to 1898. 1795. Persoon, C. H. Observationes Mycologicae, Pars prima. 1799. Persoon, C. H. Observationes Mycologicae, Pars secunda. 1797. Persoon, C. H. Tentamen Dispositionis Methodicas Fungorum. 1801. Persoon, C. H. Synopsis Methodica Fungorum, 1844. Rabenhorst, L. Deutschland's Kryptogamenflora. 1884. Raciborski, M. Myxomycetes Agri Krakov. Genera, Species et Varietates novae. 1888. Raunkiaer, C. Myxomycetes Daniae. 1769. Retzius, A. J. In Handlungen, Kon. Svensk. "Vet. Acad. 1890. Rex, George A. In Proceedings Philad. Acad, of Nat. Sciences — to 1893. 1873. Rostafinski, J. Versuch eines Systems der Mycetozoen. 1875. Rostafinski, J. Sluzowce Monografia. 1778. Roth, A. W. Tentamen Florae Germanics. 1888. Saccardo, P. A. Sylloge Fungorum, vol. vii., et seq. 1841. Sauter, A. Flora, vol. xxiv., p. 316. 1762. Schaeffer, J. C. Fungi qui in Bav. et Pal. nascuntur — to 1774. 1797. Schrader, H. A. Nova Genera Plantarum. 1890. Schroeter, J. Myxomycetes, in Engler u. Prantl Pflanzenfamilien. 1885. Schroeter, J. Kryptogamenflora von Schlesien, die Pilze. 1801. Schumacher, C. F. Enumeratio Plant. Sasll. crescentium. 1805. Albertini, I. and Schweinitz, L. D. de. Conspectus Fungorum. 1822. Schweinitz, L. D. de. Synopsis Fungorum Car. Sup. 1834. Schweinitz, L. D. de. Synopsis Fungorum in America Boreali. 1797. Sowerby, J. English Fungi— to 1809; 3 vols. 1760. Scopoli, J. A. Flora Carniolica — to 1772. BIBLIOGRAPHY xvii 1797. Trentepohl, K. Observationes Botanicae, — to Roth, Catalecta Botanica, Fasc. i. 1833. Wallroth, C. F. Flora Cryptogamica Germaniae. 1787. Willdenow, K. L. Florae Berolinensis Prodromus. 1886. Wingate, Harold, Jour. Mycol. ii., 125. 1889. Wingate Harold, In Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1890. Wingate, Harold — in Revue Mycologique. 1873. Woronin u. Famintzin, Ueber Zvvei neuen Formen von Schleim- pilzen. 1885. Zopf, W. Die Piizthiere oder Schleimpilze. To these may be added the many contributions on the general subject, as these are found in all sorts of current botanical literature; cited everywhere in this volume as occasion offered. INTRODUCTORY The Myxomycetes, or slime-moulds, include certain very delicate and extremely beautiful fungus-like organisms common in all the moist and wooded regions of the earth. Deriving sustenance, as they for the most part do, in connection with the decomposition of organic matter, they are usually to be found upon or near decaying logs, sticks, leaves, and other masses of vegetable detritus, wherever the quantity of such material is sufficient to insure continuous moisture. In fruit, however, as will appear hereafter, slime-moulds may occur on objects of any and every sort. Their minuteness retires them from ordinary ken; but such is the extreme beauty of their microscopic structure, such the exceeding interest of their life-history, that for many years enthusiastic students have found the group one of peculiar fascination, in some respects, at least, the most interesting and re- markable that falls beneath our lens. The slime-mould presents in the course of its life-history two very distinct phases: the vegetative j or growing, assimilating phase, and the reproductive. The former is in many cases inconspicuous and therefore unobserved ; the latter generally receives more or less atten- tion at the hands of the collector of fungi. The vegetative phase differs from the corresponding phase of all other plants in that it exhibits extreme simplicity of structure, if structure that may be called which consists of a simple mass of protoplasm destitute of cell- walls, protean in form and amoeboid in its movements. This phase of the slime-mould is described as plasmodial and it is proper to designate the vegetative phase in any species, as the Plasmodium of the species. It was formerly taught that the Plasmodium is uni- cellular, but more recent investigation has shown that the plasmodial protoplasm is not only multinuclear but karyokinetic ; its cells divide and redivide, as do the reproductive cells of plants and animals gen- erally. Nevertheless, in its plasmodial phase, the slime-mould is hardly to be distinguished from any other protoplasmic mass, may be nonRTY UBRARY H. C. StaU Collect 2 INTRODUCTORY compared to a giant amoeba, and justifies in so far the views of those systematists who would remove the slime-moulds from the domain of the botanist altogether, and call them animals. The Plasmodium is often quite large. It may frequently be found covering with mani- fold ramifications and net-like sheets the surface of some convenient substratum for the space of several square feet. The substance of the Plasmodium has about the consistency of the white of an egg; is slippery to the touch, tasteless, and odorless. Plasmodia vary in color in different species and at different times in the same species. The prevailing color is yellow, but may be brown, orange, red, ruby-red, violet, in fact any tint, even green. Young Plasmodia in certain species are colorless (as in Diderma floriforme) , while many have a peculiar ecru-white or creamy tint difficult to define. Not only does the color change, sometimes more than once in the course of the life history of the same species, but it may be the same for several forms, which in fruit are singularly diverse indeed, so that the mere color of the Plasmodium brings small assistance to the systematist. In fact, the color depends no doubt upon the pres- ence in the plasmodium of various matters, more or less foreign, un- assimilated, possibly some of them excretory, differing from day to day. In its plasmodial state, as has been said, the slime-mould affects damp or moist situations, and during warm weather in such places spreads over all moist surfaces, creeps through the interstices of the rotting bark, spreads between the cells, between the growth-layers of the wood, runs in corded vein-like nets between the wood and bark, and finds in all these cases nutrition in the products of organic de- composition. Such a Plasmodium may be divided, and so long as suitable surroundings are maintained, each part will manifest all the properties of the whole. Parts of the same plasmodium will even coalesce again. If a piece of plasmodium-bearing wood be brought indoors, be protected from desiccation by aid of a moist dark cham- ber, not too warm (70° F.), the organism seems to suffer little if any injury, but will continue for days or weeks to manifest all the phenomena of living matter. Thus, under such circumstances, the Plasmodium will constantly change shape and position, can be in- INTRODUCTORY 3 duced to spread over a plate of moist glass, and so be transferred to the stage of a microscope, there to exhibit in the richest and most interesting and abundant fashion the streaming protoplasmic cur- rents. As just indicated, the plasmodia follow moisture, creep from one moist substance to another, especially follow nutritive substrata. They seem also to secure in some way exclusive possession. I have never seen them interfered with by hyphae or enemies of any sort, nor do they seem to interfere with one another. Plasmodia of two common species, Hemitrichia clavata and H. vesparium are often side by side on the same substratum, but do not mix, and their per- fected fruits presently stand erect side by side, each with its own characteristics, entirely unaffected by the presence of the other. On the other hand, it is probable that some of the forms which, judged by their different fructifications, and by this alone, are to us distinct, may be more closely related than we suspect, and puzzling phases which show the distinctive marks supposed to characterize different species are no doubt sometimes to be explained on the theory of Plasmodia! crossing; they are hybrids. Under certain conditions, low temperature, lack of moisture, the Plasmodium may pass into a resting phase, when it masses itself in heaps and may become quite dry in lumps of considerable size, and so await the return of favorable conditions when former activity is quickly resumed. Sometimes the larger plasmodia pass into the rest- ing phase by undergoing a very peculiar change of structure. In ordinary circumstances the abundant free nuclei demonstrable in the Plasmodium afford the only evidence of cellular organization. In passing now into the condition of rest, the whole protoplasmic mass separates simultaneously into numerous definite polyhedral or paren- chymatous cells, each with a well-developed cellulose wall.^ When the conditions essential to activity are restored, the walls disappear, the cellulose is resorbed, and the Plasmodium resumes its usual habit and structure. The plasmodial phase of the slime-mould, like the hyphal phase of the fungus, may continue a long time ; for months, possibly for years. The reason for making the latter statement will presently appear. 1 DeBary, Morphology and Biology of the Fungi, p. 428. 4 INTRODUCTORY But however long or short the plasmodial phase continue, the time of fruit, the reproductive phase, at length arrives. When this time comes, induced partly by a certain maturity in the organism itself, partly no doubt by the trend of external conditions, the Plasmodium no longer as before evades the light, but pushes to the surface, and appears usually in some elevated or exposed position, the upper side of the log, the top of the stump, the upper surface of its habitat, whatever that may be; or even leaves its nutrient base entirely and finds lodging on some neighboring object. In such emergency the stems and leaves of flowering plants are often made to serve, and even fruits and flowers afford convenient resting places. The object now to be attained is not the formation of fruit alone, but likewise its speedy desiccation and the prompt dispersal of the perfected spores. Nothing can be more interesting than to watch the slime- mould as its Plasmodium accomplishes this its last migration. If hitherto its habitat has been the soft interior of a rotten log, it now begins to ooze out in all directions, to well up through the crevices of the bark as if pushed by some energy acting in the rear, to stream down upon the ground, to flow in a hundred tiny streams over all the region round about, to climb all stems, ascend all branches, to the height of many inches, all to pass suddenly as if by magic charm into one widespread, dusty field of flying spores. Or, to be more exact, whatever the position ultimately assumed, the Plasmodium soon becomes quiescent, takes on definite and ultimate shape, which varies greatly, almost for each species. Thus it may simply form a flat, cake-like mass, aethaliunij internally divided into an indefinite num- ber of ill-defined spore cases, sporangia; or the Plasmodium may take the form of a simple net, plasmodiocarp, whose cords stand out like sw^ollen veins, whose meshes vary both in form and size; or more commonly the whole protoplasmic mass breaks up into little spheroid- al heaps which may be sessile directly on the substratum, or may be lifted on tiny stems, stipitate, which may rest in turn upon a common sheet-like film, or more or less continuous net, spreading beneath them all, the hypothallus. In any case, each differentiated portion of the Plasmodium, portion poorly or well defined, elongate, net-like, spheroidal, elliptical, or of whatever shape, becomes at length a INTRODUCTORY 5 sporangium, spore-case, receptacle for the development and tempo- rary preservation of the spores. ^ The slime-moulds were formerly classed with the gasteromycetous fungi, pufiE-balls, and in description of their fruiting phase the terms applicable to the de^scription of a puff-ball are still employed, al- though it will be understood that the structures described are not in the two cases homologous; analogous only. The sporangium of the slime-mould exhibits usually a distinct peridiunij or outer limiting wall, which is at first continuous, enclosing the spores and their at- tendant machinery, but at length ruptures, irregularly as a rule, and so suffers the contents to escape. The peridium may be double, varies in texture, color, persistence, and so forth, as will be more fully set forth in the several specific descriptions. The peridium blends with the hypothallus below when such structure is recog- nizable, either directly, when the sporangium is sessile, or by the intervention of a stipe. The stipe may be hollow, may contain color- ing matter of some sort, or may even contain peculiar spore-like cells or spores ; is often furrowed, and in some cases shows a disposition to unite or blend with the stalks of neighboring sporangia. In many cases the stipe is continued upward, more or less definitely into the cavity of the sporangium, and there forms the columellaj sometimes simple and rounded, like the analogous structure in the Mucores, sometimes as in Cornatricha, branching again and again in wonderful richness and complexity. Each sporangium is at maturity filled with numerous unicellular spores. These are usually spherical, sometimes flattened at various points by mutual contact; they are of various colors, more commonly yellow or violet brown, are sometimes smooth (?), but generally roughened either by the presence of minute warts, or spines, or by the occurence of more or less strongly elevated bands dividing retic- ulately the entire surface. The spores are in all cases small 3-20/*, and reveal their surface characters only under the most excellent lenses. Associated with the spores in the sporangium occurs the capillitium. This consists of most delicate thread- or hair-like elements, offering ^ See, however, Ceratiomyxa, p. 18, following. 6 INTRODUCTORY great variety both in form and structure. The threads composing the capillitium are not to be regarded, even when free, as cells, nor even of cellular origin; probably, as would appear from the researches of Strasburger and Harper, all forms of capillitial threads arise in con- nection with vacuoles in the protoplasmic mass. "Whether the thread is hollow or solid, simple or branched, free or connected with the peridium or a columella, — these are entirely secondary condi- tions, depending on the extent and form of the vacuoles." ^ They may occur singly or be combined into a net, they may be terete or flat, attached to the peridial wall or free, simple or adorned with bands or spires and knobs in every variety, uniform or profusely knotted and thickened at intervals, and burdened with calcic par- ticles. In many cases, the capillitium contributes materially to the dispersal of the spores; in others, it doubtless contributes mechan- ically to the support of the peridial wall, and renders so far per- sistent the delicate sporangium. For more exact description the reader is again referred to the specific delineations which follow. The transition from phase to phase requires, as intimated, no great length of time. Tibnadoche polycephala completed the transi- tion from vegetative to fruiting phase in less than twelve hours. The germination of the spores ensues closely upon their dispersal or maturity and is unique in many respects.- The wall of the spore 1 Harper in Botanical Gazette, Vol. XXX., p. 219. - The following germination periods are furnished by Dr. Constantineanu {Inaugural Dissertation ueber die Ent^' This sequence is meant to convey the idea that the presence of lime is indicative of differentiation less complete. That the Plasmodium should at the outset eliminate, by refusing the unnecessary lime, is indicative of higher rank than that the lime should be carried until the last and then be crystallized out, or excreted by simple desicca- tion. The circumstance that the excreted lime may sometimes serve a protective purpose in the fruit, does not vitiate the general prin- ciple. In Series B the differentiation reaches a climax in the sculp- tured capillitium of the trichias. ORDER I PHYSARALES Spores violaceous-black. The capillitium usually delicate and thread-like; peridium and capillitium, one or other or both, more or less extensively surcharged with lime. Peridium simple or double. Fructification various. PHYSARACEM 23 This order is recognizable by several characteristics, but is espe- cially marked by the peculiar calcareous deposits which affect the capillitium or peridium, now one, now the other, more often both. As here defined, the order Physarales includes two distinct fami- lies ; of the one Physarunij of the other Didymium, is type. Key to the Families of the Order Physarales A. Fructification often calcareous throughout; capillitium intricate Physaraceae B. Calcareous deposits, when present, affecting the peridium only, or some- times the stipe, in the typical genus plainly crystalline; capillitium simple Didymiaceae A. PHYSARACEiE Key to the Genera of the Physaraceae A. Fructification zethalioid 1. Fuligo B. Fructification plasmodiocarpous or of distinct sporangia. a. Peridium evidently calcareous. i. Capillitium calcareous throughout . . 2. Badhamia ii. Capillitium largely hyaline. * Sporangia globose, etc.; dehiscence irregular 3. Physarum ** Sporangia vasiform or more or less tubular t Dehiscence by a lid or more or less circumscis- sile 4. Craterium tt Dehiscence irregular, peridium introverted 5. Physarella b. Peridium apparently limeless, at least outside. i. Plasmodiocarpous .... 6. Cienkoivskia ii. Sporangia distinct 7. Leocarpus C. Extra-Iimital. a. Sporangia stipitate, saucer-shaped, following No. 3 Trichamphora b. Sporangia elongate allantoid, etc., following No. 1. Erionema 1. Fuligo (Haller) Pers. 1753. Mucor Linn., Sp. PI. II., No. 1656 (?). 1768. Fuligo Haller, Hist. Helv., Nos. 1233-1235, in part. 1801. Fuligo Haller, Pers. Syn., p. 159. 1809. /Et/ialium Link, Diss., I, p. 42. 1829. JEthalium Fries, Sym. Myc, III., p. 92. 24 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS Sporangia undefined, obscurely woven in and out among each other forming usually a cushion-shaped asthalioid mass. The outer layer sterile, often calcareous, forming a fragile crust, more or less defined. The middle layer sporiferous with calcigerous capillitium. The lowest layer a membranous hypothallus. The identity of this genus seems to have been recognized first by Haller, op. cit., but by Persoon more closely defined and illustrated. Link simply translated the name into Greek, for reasons less evident now, and in this was followed by Fries. Haller's designation is now probably securely fixed. The sporigerous median structure of the fructifications, under whatever specific name or names, is entirely confused. Sporangial walls, if ever such there were, are hardly as such recoverable, seem- ingly indicated only, in the changes to which the aethalium submits as in the ripening the sporogenic plasm passes on to spores. In the present state of our knowledge the forms of this genus present withal a most perplexing problem. Are they simply phases of a single species, or are they in style and in structure sufficiently constant in their admitted variety, to claim specific rank and separate description ? To follow the example of Greville and recognize in all the liter- ature of two hundred years varied descriptions of a single type, — this were perhaps the easier and speedier disposal of the case. Fries thought so to treat the problem but was unable to keep faith with his own decision; for no sooner he states the genus monotypic than he proceeds forthwith to offer four varieties, a. b. c. d., viz. those by Persoon and others duly recognized as species. Recent students all, however, seem to find convenience in specific division. All seem disposed to honor Dr. Peck's Fuligo ochracea whether or not by the name he gave; and of other varieties some seem impressed by the constancy of one, some of another character- istic, thus indicating that to careful observers all over the world there are differences that may be recognized, that have been recog- nized again and again. If there are two species there are certainly more. Out of the gatherings of many years one may set in order not less than five variations in the fruiting of Fuligo, five distinct types FULIGO 25 of fructification, to all appearing sufficiently constant for specific recognition. It will be said, has been said, was said by Fries, that these vari- ations are insignificant, "pendent ex seris constitutione" ; but as a matter of fact the several types now in question may be found on the same day, so that evidently something other than the atmospheric environment must determine. Again it is said that the differences are in external form or color only, the spores in all cases almost if not quite the same. This is true; but specific characters are surf (ice characters in fact: a species morphologically is merely the form in which a kind or genus presents itself. If the presentation be constant, for our convenience we say so, in bestowing a name. Whether in our present treatment the con- venience is purely personal, students may decide. However it all may be, there are in this part of the world many varying presentations of Fuligo capable of illustration and descrip- tion ; the same forms, perhaps, which have attracted the notice of the more acute mycologists in the older history of the subject. Some of these forms we here venture to describe, with such annotation as may show something of present knowledge. Key to the Species of Fuligo A. ^thalium 1 cm. or less; spores spherical . . \. F. muscorum B. i^thalium larger, or plasmodiocarpous, even sporangi-form, crust white, smooth, even, spores elliptical 2. F. cinerea C. ^thalia larger, 2 cm. or more. 1. Cortex yellovp, etc., not white; spores 6-8 M . 3. F. septica 2. Cortex nearly or quite wanting; spores 10-12 4. F. intermedia 3. Cortex white, a foamy crust; spores 15-25 5. F. megaspora 1. Fuligo muscorum Alb. ^ Schiv. 1894. Fuliffo muscorum, Alb. & Schw. Lister, Mycetozoa, p. 67. 1875. Licea ochracea Peck, N. Y. Rep., XVIII., p. 55. 1879. Fuligo ochracea Peck, N. Y. Rep., XXXI., p. 56. 1894. Fuligo muscorum, Alb. & Schw., Lister, Mycetozoa, p. 67. 1911. Fuligo muscorum Alb. & Schw., Lister, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 87. 26 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS Plasmodium orange-yellow, i^thalium globoid, very small, 1 cm. or less, the cortex very thin, greenish yellow; sporangial walls not evident; capillitium well-developed, the numerous calcareous nodes fusiform or often branching, and connected by rather short, trans- parent internodes; spores coarsely warted, 10-11 /x. This form seems to differ from F. septica chiefly in its constant diminutive habit of fruiting, in its delicate cortex, and in its spores, brighter, larger, and more coarsely warted. The descriptions and figure by Schweinitz seem referable to nothing else. First reported by Albertini and Schweinitz from Germany; by Schweinitz from the Carolinas; then by Dr. Peck described as a Licea from New York. It seems less commonly collected in the United States. 2. FuLiGO ciNEREA (Schiv.) Morg. Plate X., Figs. 3, 3 a, and 3 h, and Plate XXIII. 1831. Enteridium cinereum Schw., N. A. F., No. 2365. 1875. Physarum ellipsosporum Rost., Mon. App., p. 10. 1884. ^thaliopsis siercoriformis Zopf., Pilzthiere, p. 150. 1894. Fuitgo ellipsospora Lister, Mycetozoa, p. 67. 1896. Fuligo drier ea (Schw.) Morg., Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., p. 105. 1899. Physarum ellipsosporum Rost., Macbr. N. A. S., p. 27. 1911. Fuligo cinerea Morg., List., Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 88. Plasmodium milk-white, watery. Plasmodiocarp long and widely effused, anon winding, here and there reticulate, always applanate; sometimes in form an aethalium, the peridial cortex membranous, firm, thick, and white. Capillitium well-developed, furnished with lime. Spores thin-walled, ellipsoidal, violaceous, plicate-rugose, 14- 16 X 11-12/.. Not common. Found occasionally in shaded situations on piles of rotting straw or in the woods, especially on detritus of the bracken. The spores are many of them ellipsoidal ; some are spherical ; all are decidedly spinulose, perhaps might appear plicate-rugulose when dry or shrunken. Calcareous nodules very large and irregular, white. Schweinitz, loc. cit., described this form as Enteridium cinereum. Rostafinski referred it to the genus Physarum, but was obliged to adopt also a new specific name, as that suggested by Schweinitz was FULIGO 27 already in use in the genus Physarum. Zopf, Die Pilzthiere, p. 149, founds a new genus on what seems to be the same form as here con- sidered. This he publishes as Mthaliopsis stercoriformis Z. Massee regards the specimens discovered by Zopf as belonging to the genus Fuligo, and Lister regards Rostafinski's type as Fuligo, and includes Zopf's material under the Rostafinskian species. This has been described as properly an American form; Lister cites other far localities. 3. Fuligo septica {Linn.) Gmel. 1753. Mucor septicus Linn., Sp. PI. II., No. 1656 (?). 1763. Mucor ovatus SchaeflF., Furtff. Ba4 mm., stipitate; stipe erect, rather slender, black, faintly striate, about equal to the sporangium in the horizontal diameter; columella distinct, dark brown, globose or depressed- globose, attaining in some cases the centre, rough ; capillitium delicate, almost colorless, radiating, sparsely branched ; spores in mass dark brown, by transmitted light violet-tinted, minutely roughened, 8-10 ti. Probably more common than the preceding, and generally mis- taken for it. Distinguished by its smaller size, longer and more slender stem, and general trim, well-differentiated appearance. Cer- tainly very near the preceding, of which Mr. Lister regards it as merely a variety. Professor Morgan thought it in this country the more common form. New York, Ohio, Iowa; reported from Europe, Africa, South America. 9. DiDYMiUM CLAVUS (Alb. & Schw.) Rabenhorst. 1805. Physarum clavus Alb. & Schw., Consp. Fung., p. 96. 1829. Didymium melanopus Fries, Syst. Myc, III., p. 114. 1844. Didymium clavus (Alb. & Schw.) Rabh., Ger. Cr. FL, No. 2282. 1875. Didymium clavus (Alb. & Schw.) Rost., Mon., p. 153. 1899. Didymium claims (Alb. & Schw.) Rabenh., Macbr., A^. A. S., p. 90. 1911. Didymium clavus Rost., List., Mycet., 2nd ed., p. 128. Sporangia gregarious, pale gray, discoid or pileate, depressed, stipi- tate; the peridium dark-colored, frosted with calcareous crystals above, naked below; stipe short, slender, tapering upward, furrowed, arising from a hypothallus more or less distinct, black; columella obsolete; capillitium of delicate threads, pale or colorless, little branched ; spores violaceous, pale, nearly smooth, 6-8 /x. This species is well differentiated, easy of recognition by reason of its peculiar discoid sporangium, calcareous above, naked and black beneath. D. neglectum Massee, reported from Philadelphia, is said to be a slender form of the present species. The figures of D. clavus by Albertini and Schweinitz are excellent, as also the description. Not common. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa. DIDYMWM 123 10. DiDYMiUM NIGRIPES (Link) Fries. Plate VII., Figs. 2, 2 a, 2 b. 1809. Physarum nigripes Link, Obs. Diss., I., p. 27. 1818. Physarum microcarpon Fr., Sym. Gast., p. 23. 1829. Didymium nigripes (Link) Fr., 5yjA Myc, IIL, p. 119. 1875. Didymium microcarpon (Fr.) Rost., Mon., p. 157. 1896. Didymium microcarpon Fr., Morg., 7our. Ci«. Sof., p. 61. Sporangia gregarious, globose or hemispheric, umbilicate beneath, small, white, stipitate; the peridium smoky, covered with minute cal- careous crystals; stipe slender, erect, black, opaque; hypothallus scu- tate, black; columella distinct, globose, black or dark brown; capillitium of delicate threads, pale brown or colorless, with occa- sional brown thickenings or nodes, sparingly branched ; spores pale,, violaceous by transmitted light, minutely warted, 6-8 fi. This is D. microcarpon Rost. Fries, /. c, acknowledges the prior- ity of Link's appellation, and discards microcarpon. Rostafinski adopted microcarpon simply because he thought it more appropriate. Fries describes the columella "none or black." It is doubtful wheth- er we have the typical Friesian form on this continent. The fructi- fication is in our specimens small, about .4 mm., and the spores, as noted by Morgan, small; otherwise the species is hardly more than a variety of the next. Under the name D. nigripes Lister groups our Nos. 10, 11, 12. N. A. F., 1393, represents Dr. Rex's conception of the present species. Not common. New York, Ohio, Iowa. 11. Didymium xanthopus (Ditmar) Fr. Plate XVI., Fig. 10. 1817. Cionium xanthopus Ditmar, Sturm, Deutsch. Fl., III., p. 37, t. 43. 1829. Didymium xanthopus (Dit.) Fr., Syst. Myc, IIL, p. 120. 1873. Didymium proximum Berk. & C, Grev., II., p. 52. 1892. Didymium microcarpon (Fr.) Rost., Macbr., Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. Joiva, XL, p. 146, in part. 1894. Didymium nigripes Fr., List., Mycetozoa, p. 98, in part. Sporangia gregarious, white, globose, slightly umbilicate, stipitate; the peridium thin, and nearly or quite colorless, frosted with crystals of lime ; the stipe yellowish or yellowish brown, corneous, erect, sub- 124 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS ulate, slender; hypothallus none; columella pale or white, turbinate, globose or depressed-globose; capillitium of dull brown, or colorless threads more or less branched, always white at the tips; spores viola- ceous, nearly smooth, 7.5—8.5 [x. This seems to be the most common form in the United States. It is distinguished from the preceding by the longer, more delicate, gen- erally orange-yellow, stem with pale or white columella. The spores also average a shade larger. N. A. F., 412 and 2089, are illustra- tions of D. xanthopus. The columella in blown-out specimens is very striking, well confirming the diagnosis of Fries, "valde prom- inensj globosa, stipitata, alba." Berkeley makes the color of the capillitium diagnostic of D. proximum, but this feature is insufficient. Eastern United States; common. 12. DiDYMIUM EXIMIUM Peek. Plate XVI., Figs. 11, 11 a, 11 ^'. 1879. Didymium eximium Peck, Rep. N. Y. Mus., XXXI., p. 41. Sporangia scattered, dull grayish-yellow or gray, depressed-globose, umbilicate, minute, stipitate; the peridium comparatively thick, tena- cious, especially persistent below, tawny or yellow; the stipe pale brown or orange, erect, even or slightly enlarged at base ; hypothallus scant or none; columella prominent, more or less discoidal, rough, or spinulose, especially on the upper surface, yellow; capillitium not abundant, pale fuliginous, often branching and anastomosing so as to form a loose net; spores nearly smooth, dark violaceous by trans- mitted light, 8.5-9.5 IX. The species differs from D. xanthopus in several particulars, — in the much firmer, more persistent, and less calcareous peridium, in the more complex capillitium, in the darker and larger spores, and espe- cially in the peculiar and prominent columella, which is not only, rough, but even "sometimes spinulose even to the extent of long spicules penetrating to one-third the height of the sporangia." N. A. F., 2493. As stated under No. 8, these last two species are called varieties only of D. nigripes. They are so retained in Mycetozoa, 2nd ed. DIDYMIUM 125 Since, however, they are the usual presentation of the species in the United States, it seems wise to let them stand for the present, as here. They are quite distinguishable; D. eximium especially well marked. Apparently rare, it yet ranges from New York to eastern Iowa, in colonies rather large. Okoboji Lake; — fine! 13. DiDYMIUM TROCHUS LtSt. 1898. Didymium trochus List., Jour. Bot., XXXVI., p. 164. Sporangia plasmodiocarpous, hemispherical or turbinate, white, ses- sile or very short-stalked, cream-colored or white; peridium double, the outer shell-like, the inner membranaceous, more or less adherent to the outer, both caducous together, leaving the thickened base sur- rounding an expanded columella; stipe, when present, very short, stout; capillitium colorless, nearly simple; spores brownish-purple, strongly warted, 9-10 /a. On decaying leaves, rotten cactus, yucca, etc., Monrovia, Cali- fornia; Bethel. Reported from England on beds of leaves or straw; in Portugal Dr. Torrend finds it on or in dead leaves of Agave americana! Evi- dently an American species, and belonging to arid regions; its occur- rence in England surprising! 14. Didymium annulatum Machr. n. s. Plate XX,, Figs. 4, 4 a. Sporangia small, scattered, annulate, not only without columella but perforate when the stipe is broken, umbilicate above and below, grey, coated with crystalline frustules, opening irregularly about the periphery ; stipe white, or pallid, fluted, tapering upward from a dis- tinct hyp>othalIus ; capillitium scanty consisting of delicate, sparsely branching threads, the branchlets anastomosing more or less at length, attached to the peridial wall, radiating from the rim of the slightly depressed top of stipe, without special thickenings save at the inser- tion of the ramules a triangular enlargement is usual and of dark or pallid shade; spores smooth; however they show three or four spots 126 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS on the hemisphere and other minute but variable markings; 9-10 fi. Seattle, Washington. Differs from D. nigripes in color of the stipes, capillitium, spore- diameter, etc. 15. DiDYMIUM DUBIUM Rost. 1875. Didymium dubium Rost., Mon., p. 152. 1892. Didymium listeri Mass., Mon., p. 244. 1894. Didymium dubium Rost., List, Mycetozoa, p. 95. 1911. Didymium dubium Rost., List., Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 126. Fructification wholly plasmodiocarpous, snow-white, small, 2-6 mm., flat and thin; the outer wall double, membranous within, cal- careous-crystalline without; columella none; capillitium simple of rather thick, vertical, brown threads, sparingly united laterally, and only occasionally furcate at the ends, especially above ; spores minutely spinulescent, violaceous pale, 12-15 /x. Massee thought English specimens out of harmony with the orig- inal description and gave them a new name. To refuse this, Lister enlarges the range of spore-measurements and disregards some of Rostafinski's specifications as to capillitium. Our specimens are as described. Bohemia. England. Shores of Lake Okoboji, Iowa. This is indeed a doubtful form. It differs from D. difforme chiefly in that the outer calcareous shell is not smooth, but is covered with abundant loose crystals, frosted. The spores are paler but about the same size. The frosting may be incident to local climatic condi- tions at the time and place of desiccation. 16. Didymium difforme Duby. 1797. Diderma difforme Pers. Tentamen Disp. Meth., p. 19. 1830. Didymium difforme Duby., Bat. Gall, ii., p. 858. 1875. Chondrioderrna difforme Pers., Rost., Mon., p. 177. 1894. Didymium difforme Duby., List., Mycetozoa, p. 94. 1899. Diderma personii Macbr., A^. A. S., p. 96. 1911. Didymium difforme Duby., List., Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 124, Plasmodiocarpous, the smooth, white outer peridium separable from the thin, colorless or purplish inner layer; capillitium of rather DIDYMIUM 127 coarse, flat, dichotomously branching threads, broader below; spores minutely warted, or almost smooth, dark brown, 12-14 fi. The white crust-like outer wall has more than once carried this species into Diderma. It is still doubtful whether we are here deal- ing with Chondrioderma calcareum Rost. Miss Lister cites a variety, S. difforme comatum, with more abundant capillitium which may represent Rostafinski's species. Evidently rare in the United States; reported more common in Europe and eastward. In our specimens the crust-like outer peridium shows crystals on the broken edge only; the body of the object, as its outer surface seems to be amorphous. 17. DiDYMIUM QUITENSE (Pat.) Torr. 1895. Chondrioderma quitense Pat., Bull. Soc. Myc. Fr., XL, p. 212. 1909. Didymium quitense (Pat.) Torn, Flor. Myxom., p. 150. 1911. Didymium quitense Torn, List., Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 126. 1913. Didymium quitense (Pat.) Torn, Sturg., Myx., CoL IL, p. 446. Sporangia more or less plasmodiocarpous, scattered, depressed, white; the outer peridium distinct, crust-like, remote from the thin membranous inner wall ; columella undefined ; capillitium brown, much branched, forming a network especially outwardly; spores very dark violaceous-brown, rough with a tendency to obscure reticulation ; 12-14 II. This species is different from D. difforme chiefly in the rougher and somewhat banded epispore. It is reported from Ecuador by Father Torrend, and from Colorado mountains by Dr. Sturgis to whose kindness I am indebted for the specimens here described. Evi- dently a high mountain species. Colorado. 18fl, Didymium anomalum Sturg. Plate XIX., Figs. 13 and U a. 1913. Didymium anomalum Sturg. Myxomycetes of Col., IL, p. 444 Sporangia in the form of very thin effused grey plasmodiocarps, 2-10 cm. long, 1 mm. or less in thickness. Wall single or membran- ous, hyaline or yellowish, with rather scanty deposits of small, stel- 128 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS lately crystalline or amorphous lime. Columella none. Capillitium consisting entirely of straight membranous, tubular, columns, extend- ing from the base to the upper wall of the plasmodiocarp, 7-22 jtt thick and usually containing small crystalline masses of lime. Spores bright violet-brown, minutely and irregularly spinulose, 10-11.5 /x diam. Hab. on the inner bark of Populus. Colorado Springs, Colo,, July 1911. Our specimens by the courtesy of Dr. Sturgis. EXTRA-LIMITAL 18. DiDYMiUM INTERMEDIUM Schroeter. 1896. Didymium intermedium Schroet., Hediviffia, Vol. XXXV., p. 209. 1902. Didymium excelsum Jahn, Ber. Deut. Bot. Ges., XX., p. 275. Sporangia clustered or gregarious, discoidal and umbilicate below, or lobed or convolute, greyish white, stipitate; stipe pale yellow, tapering upwards, stuffed with lime crystals, expanding into the j^el- lowish, discoidal, recurving columella; capillitium colorless, more or less branching; spores dark purple-brown, irregularly reticulate, 9-12 II. Differs from D. squamulosum in the reticulate epispore. Brazil. 19. Didymium leoninum Berk. £sf Br. 1873. Didymium leoninum Berk. & Br., Jour. Linn. Soc, XIV,, p. 83. 1876. Lepidoderma tigrinum Rost, A pp. to Man., p. 23, 1909, Lcpidodermopsis leoninus v, Hohnel, Sitz. K. Ak. Wiss. Wien, Math. Nat. Ks., CXVIII,, 439, Sporangia gregarious, subglobose, covered more or less completely with white or yellowish deposits of crystalline lime, stipitate ; stipes short, orange or brown, containing lime, enlarged to form the globose orange columella and often connected at base by a venulose hypothal- lus ; capillitium of slender threads, anastomosing, colorless at the tips ; spores violet-grey, minutely warted, 7-9 ju. Like Lepidoderma tigrinum, but has different calcic crystals. Java and Ceylon, DIDERMA 129 3. Diderma Persoon 1794. Diderma Persoon, Rom. N. Mag. BoL, I., p. 89. 1873. Chondrioderma Rost. Versuch, p. 13, Mon., p. 167. 1894. Chondrioderma Rost., List, Mycetozoa, p. 75. 1899. Diderma Persoon, Macbr., N. A. S., p. 92. Sporangia plasmodiocarpous or distinct, sessile or stipitate; the peridium as a rule double, the outer wall generally calcareous with the lime granules globular, non-crystalline, the inner wall very deli- cate and often, in the mature fructification, remote from the outer; columella generally prominent. The genus Diderma is usually easy of recognition, by reason of its double wall, the outer, crustaceous, usually calcareous, and its limits remain substantially as originally set by Persoon. His definition is as follows : — "Peridium ut plurimum duplex; exterius fragile; interius pellucens, subdistans. Columella magna, subrotunda. Fila parca latentia." — Syn. Meth. Fung., p. 168. Rostafinski changed the name of the genus to Chondrioderma {chondri, cartilage), seemingly at De Bary's suggestion, and seems to have regarded Persoon's definition as applicable to those species only in which the wall is not only plainly double, but in which the two walls are as plainly remote from each other. More especially he esteemed a new generic name necessary, since he regarded several in- cluded species, as D. spumarioides, D. michelii, etc., monodermic. Since it is doubtful whether any diderma is really monodermic, and since Persoon's definition in any case seems sufficiently elastic, we have seen no reason to discard the older name. Persoon's Diderma when established, /. c, included D. florifor?ne. He made some con- fusion in his later work by admitting some physarums. This induced Schrader to throw all the didermas into his new genus, Didymium. According to the nature of the sporangia! wall, the species fall rather naturally into two sections: — A. Outer sporangial wall distinctly calcareous, fragile; species generally sessile Diderma B. Outer sporangial wall cartilaginous, the inner less distinct, or concrete with the outer; species oftener stipitate . . . Leangium 10 130 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS A. Sub-Genus DIDERMA 1. Fructification wholly plasmodiocarpous . . . \. D. effusum 2. Fructification of distinct sporangia. a. Sporangia on a common hypothallus. * Outer wall fragile, not widely remote from the inner 2. D. spumarioides ** Inner wall lacking . . . . 3. D, simplex *** Outer wall crustaceous, porcelain-like. i. Spores 8-10 . . . 4-. D. globosum ii. Spores 12-15 . . . 5. D. crustaceum **** Outer wall firm, not crustaceous . 6. D. lyallii b. Sporangia isolated, or, at least, not on a common hypothallus, sessile. * Outer wall porcellanous, roseate . 7. D. testaceum ** Outer wall white . . . . 7. D. niveum *** Outer wall ashen . . . . 9. D. cinereum . c. Sporangia stipitate . , . . 10. D. hemispherkum B. Sub-Genus LEANGIUM 1. Sporangia generally sessile. a. Inner peridium distinct. * Membranous colorless, columella scant 11. D. sauteri ** Colorless, columella prominent, red 12. D. cor-rubrum *** Outer ochraceous, inner yellow . 13. D. ochraceum b. Peridial layers inseparable. * Peridium multifid; columella small or none 16. D. trevelyani ** Peridium breaking into but few irregular lobes; colum- ella prominent, i. Peridium umber brown . 14. D. roanense ii. Peridium ashen . . . 15. D. radiatum iii. Peridium chocolate without, inside white 17. D. aster aides 2. Sporangia stipitate. a. Peridium pallid, smooth . . . . 18. D. floriforme b. Peridium white, rugulose . . . . 19. D. rugosum 1. DiDERMA EFFUSUM (Schiv.) Morgan. 1831. Physarum effusum Schw., A''. A. F., p. 257. 1896. Diderma effusum (Schw.) Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc, p. 71. 1899. Diderma effusum (Schw.) Morg., Macbr., A^. A. S., p. 94. 1899. Diderma reticulatum Rost., Macbr., N. A. S., p. 95. 1911. Diderma effusum Morg., Lister, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 102. Fructification plasmodiocarpous, reticulate, creeping, applanate and generally widely effused, white ; the peridium thin, cinereous, covered DIDERMA 131 by a delicate, white, calcareous crust; the columella simply the base of the plasmodiocarp, thin alutaceous; the capillitium pale, consisting of short threads somewhat branched toward their distal extremities; spores smooth, pale violaceous, 8-10 /x. This is Physarum effusum Schw., vid. N. A. F., No. 2297. It is reported by Morgan from Ohio, and we have one specimen from eastern Nebraska, so that it is probably of general distribution in the eastern United States. This species was in the previous edition distinguished from the Rostafinskian P. reticulatum with spores a little smaller, 6-8 jx, and with a much stronger tendency to the formation of definite sporangia, elongate indeed and branching but often globose or depressed globose. This we may know as, Var. RETICULATUM Rost. 1875. Chondrioderma reticulatum Rost., Mon., p. 170. 1894. Diderma reticulatum (Rost.) Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc, p. 71. Sporangia gregarious, generally rounded, not much depressed, flat, sometimes, especially toward the margin of a colony, elongate, venu- lose or somewhat plasmodiocarpous, dull white, the inner peridium ashen or bluish, remote from the calcareous crust, which is extremely fragile, easily shelling off; columella indistinguishable from the base of the sporangium, thin, alutaceous; capillitium of short, generally colorless, delicate, sparingly branching or anastomosing threads per- pendicular to the columella; spores black in mass, by transmitted light violet-tinted, smooth, 6-8 fi. Perhaps our most common form. Found in fall on dead twigs, leaves, etc. Recognized by its rather large, white, depressed or flat- tened sporangia tending to form reticulations, and hence suggesting the name. The lines of fruiting tend to follow the venation of the supporting leaf; where the sporangium is round, the columella is a distinct rounded or cake-like body; where the fruit is venulose, the columella is less distinct. By these rounded forms we pass easily, as by a gate, to D. hemi- sphericum, which, when wholly sessile, differs still in greater diam- eter of the sporangia and in having somewhat larger spores. Usually 132 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS in such case the compared colony will show somewhere a very short and stout but very real stipe supporting the discoid fruit. Rostafinski divided the genus CJiondriodernw, i. e. Diderma, into three sections : — Monoderma to include those species in which the calcareous crust is less distinct or connate with the true peridium. Diderma, in w^hich the two structures were plainly separate. Leangium, used as in the present work. In his first section Rosta- finski placed C. reticulatum and C. michelii; in the second, C. dif- forme and C. calcareurn. Lister has examined Rostafinski's type of C. reticulatum and de- clares that it has the usual didermic characters. Hence there is no doubt that our small-spored American specimens are covered by Rosta- finski's description, No. 72. On the other hand. Lister makes C. difforme (Pers.) Rost. a Didymium, by its crystalline coat. That species therefore is removed from consideration in this connection. C. calcareum remains as applicable to American forms having the spores 10-12 ju,, but according to the author of the species the capil- litium is abundant and definitive. Unhappily the type of C. cal- careum is lost (Lister, Mon., p. 95), so that there is no other means of verification than the description and Rostafinski's figure. Under these circumstances we consider the name calcareum inapplicable to any American forms we have so far seen. See next species. As to the American species which have been distributed as C. calcaretim (Lk.) Rost., they are, so far as seen, referable to D. reticulatum (Rost.), Morg. Here also belongs No. 1217, Ellis, N. A. F. New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska. Probably to be found throughout the eastern United States. 2. Diderma spumarioides Fries. 1829. Diderma spumarioides Fries, Syst. Myc, III., p. 104. 1833. Physarum stromateum Link., Handb., III., p. 409. 1876. Chondrioderma stromateum (Lk.) Rost., A pp., p. 18. Sporangia sessile, crowded, spherical, or by mutual pressure ir- regular, white; the peridium plainly double, but the layers adhering, the outer more strongly calcareous, but very frail, almost farinaceous ; D I DERM A 133 hypothallus more or less plainly in evidence, white or pale alutaceous ; columella distinct, though often small, globose, yellowish ; capillitium variable in quantity, sometimes abundant, brown, somewhat branch- ing and anastomosing outwardly, the tips paler; spores minutely roughened, dark violaceous, about 10 /x. This species has the outward seeming of a didymium, but is plainly different as that genus is here defined, since the calcareous crust, al- though inclined to be pulverulent, is made up of minute granules, not crystals, of lime. The hypothallus is sometimes hardly discoverable, anon well developed, out-spread, rugulose, far beyond the limits of the fructification. In his Monogj-nph, p. 175, Rostafinski includes here Physarum stromateum Link. In the Appendix he is inclined to raise Link's form to the dignity of a distinct species, basing the diagnosis upon the superposition of the sporangia in certain cases, a feature entirely unknown to Link's description and of extremely un- certain value, since by their crowding the sporangia are liable always to be pushed above each other. We therefore regard C. stro/nateum (Link) Rost. as a synonym of the present species, as the description. Link, Handb., III., 409, indicates, so far as it goes. 3. DiDERMA SIMPLEX (Scliroet.) Lister. 1885. Chondrioderma simplex Schroet., Krypt. Fl. Schles., III., 1, p. 123. 1911. Diderma simplex List., Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 107. "Plasmodium bright yellowish brown." Sporangia gregarious, ses- sile, globose or depressed globose, .3-.5 mm., or anon plasmodiocar- pous, brown or brick-red when fresh, becoming paler, ochraceous, etc. ; hypothallus everywhere in evidence ; columella ill-defined ; capillitium scanty, the threads delicate, pale, branching as they join the peridial wall; spores dull violaceous, slightly roughened, 8-10 /x. A rather crude, primitive representative of this beautiful genus. The inner peridium seems to be lacking, — a comfort to Rostafinski ! Rare. Our best specimens are from New Jersey, by courtesy of Dr. C. L. Shear. These went to fruit on leaves and branches of Vac- cinium. It seems to affect the heather of Europe, moorland, etc. I have also specimens from the herbarium of the lamented Dr. Rex. These are more plasmodiocarpous, but open beautifully by a median 134 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS fissure as in Physarum sinuosum Bull. In no American gathering that I have examined does the capillitium show calcareous thicken- ings as described by the British text. 4. DiDERMA GLOBOSUM Persoon. Plate VII., Figs. 5, 5 a. 1794. Diderma globosum Pers., Rom. N. Mag. Bot., I., p. 89. 1875. Chondrioderma globosum (Pers.) Rost., Mon., p, 180 Sporangia more or less closely gregarious, sessile, globose or by mutual pressure prismatic or polyhedral, white, the outer wall smooth, polished, crustaceous, fragile, far remote from the inner, which is thin, smooth, or rugulose, iridescent blue; hypothallus usually pro- nounced and spreading beyond the sporangia, sometimes scanty or lacking, columella variable, sometimes very small, inconspicuous, sometimes large, globose, ellipsoidal, even pedicellate; capillitium abundant, brown or purplish brown, branching and occasionally anastomosing to form a loosely constructed superficial net; spores globose, delicately spinulose, 8 /x. This species seems rare in this country. We have specimens from Iowa. It is distinguished by small spores and generally snow-white color. Lister has thrown doubt upon Rostafinski's definition of this form — Mycetozoa, p. 78. Almost everything distributed in the United States under this name belongs in the next species. Reported also from Ohio, — Morgan. Washington. But: — it should be found in Europe, where first described ! There are two ways to meet the difficulty. In the first place it seems probable that a small-spored form really hides somewhere in Europe. The difference between the Monograph measurement and the size admitted for D. crustaceum Pk., evidently considered by Mr. Lister as type and so used in his illustration, PI. 85, is too great to be esteemed merely an error. That added .3 (Rost.) indicates caution, the average of several measurements. Our D. globosum may repre- sent what the Monograph describes.^ In the second place we may as ^ Dr. Cooke, who used the microscope, applied the Monograph description to British forms occurring on leaves; proceeded further and found the same situation in New York. Mr. Massee gives the species wide range with spores 8-10 m; average 9 m; only a fraction too large; evidently none 12-15 M. DIDERMA 135 American students mistake larger and more globular forms of some- thing else, of D. spumarioides Fr., whose spores are but little larger; or of D. effusum (Schw.) Morg., where the flattened plasmodio- carps anon splatter out to globose drops of polished whiteness, and whose spores are 8 fi. But even here the chances of error are small. In the species last named the columella or sporangial base is aluta- ceous, not white; in Fries' species, while the columella if present may be white, the peridial walls are different, difficult to distinguish. For these reasons, D. globosum Pers. may stand, waiting further light from Europe. 5. DiDERMA CRUSTACEUM Peck. Plate VII., Fig. 7 1871. Diderma crustaceum Peck, Rep. N. Y. Mus., XXVI., p. 74. 1889. Chondrioderma crustaceum (Peck) Berl., Sacc, VII., p. 373. Plasmodium at first watery, colorless, becoming at length milky white; sporangia closely crowded or superimposed, in a cushion-like colony, creamy white, globose, imbedded in the substance of the hypothallus, the outer peridium smooth, delicate, crustaceous, fragile, remote from the blue iridescent inner membrane; hypothallus promi- nent ; columella variable, generally present, globose ; capillitium dark- colored, the threads branching and combining to form a loose net; spore-mass black, spores by transmitted light dark violaceous, deli- cately roughened, 12-15 fi. Common. Readily to be distinguished from the preceding by the larger spores and more crowded habit. New England west to Nebraska. The didermas are generally delicately beautiful. The outer wall in the present species is like finest unglazed china, softly smooth, and yet not polished, often absolutely white, with porcellanous fracture. An inter-parietal space separates the outer from the inner wall, so that the former may be broken, bit by bit, without in the least dis- turbing the underlying structure. The inner wall is ashen or gauzy iridescent green, sending back all colors in reflected light. The spores are violet, deeply so when fresh, the capillitium strong and likewise tinted; the columella passing down and blending with the 136 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS common snow-white hypothalline base. The distinct habits of the two species are represented in Figs. 5 and 7. In the one the distinct sporangia are associated but not crowded ; in the other all are massed together in quite aethalioid fashion, forming circumambient, chalky masses of considerable size, 2 or 3 cm., overcrowded, superimposed, where the sporangia are regular in shape and size by reason of mutual pressure. The plasmodium develops in forests and orchards, among decaying leaves, but is inclined to rise as maturity draws near, to ascend some twig erect, or the stem of a living plant to the height of several inches where the sporangia at length appear "heaped and pent", an encircling sheath, conspicuous after the fashion of a spu- maria for which it is indeed sometimes mistaken. 6. DiDERMA LYALLii (Massee) Macbr. Plate XVIII., Figs. 5 and 5 a 1892. Chondrioderma lyallii Massee, Mon., p. 201. 1894-. Chondrioderma lyallii Mass., List, Mycetozoa, p. 81. 1899. Diderma lyallii Mass., Macbr., N. A. S., p. 99. 1911. Diderma lyallii List, sub-species, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 105. Sporangia obovate, more or less closely crowded, white, stipitate, about 1 mm. in diameter, the outer peridium firm, stout, encrusted, especially above, with granular masses of lime, the inner well devel- oped, more or less cartilaginous, opaque, yellow or buflf-colored ; hypothallus well developed, venulose, white, passing up unchanged to form the short, stout stipe and lower outer peridium; columella prominent, half the height of the sporangium, brown ; capillitium of short, brown threads, rigid, much branched, forming a net, widened irregularly and especially at the net-nodes; spore-mass black, spores by transmitted light bright brown, rough, 15-17 fi. A very distinct species; large, fine, showy sporangia in more or less crowded clusters spring from a snow-white, common hypothallus. First reported from western Canada. Our first specimens were col- lected by the late Mr. Charles Irish, on the eastern slopes of the Sierras, in Nevada; now coming in abundantly from all the western mountains to the Pacific. DIDERMA 137 7. DiDERMA TESTACEUM (Schrad.) Pers. Plate VII,, 4, 4 a, and 4 ^. 1797. Didymium testaceum Schrad., Nov. Gen. Plant., p. 25. 1801. Diderma testaceum Persoon, Syn., p. 167. 1873. Chondrioderma testaceum (Schrad.) Rost., Vers., p. 13. 1874. Diderma mariae-ivilsoni Clinton, Rep. N. Y. Mus., XXVI., p. 74. 1899. Diderma testaceum (Schrad.) Pers., Macbr., N. A. S., p. 99. 1911. Diderma testaceum Pers., List, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 106. Sporangia gregarious, sessile, depressed-spherical or sometimes elon- gate, small, 1 mm. or less, rose-white, smooth, the outer peridium crustaceous, rather thick and persistent, polished, slightly raised above the inner, which is dull ashen and more or less wrinkled ; hypothallus none; columella prominent, hemispherical in the typical rounded forms, slightly rough, reddish or reddish alutaceous; capillitium usually abundant, of slender, delicate pale or colorless threads, little branched, and smooth ; spores violaceous-brown, minutely roughened, 8-9 IX. A very beautiful species occurring at the same time as the pre- ceding and in similar situations. All our specimens from the west are on dead leaves of oak ; some eastern gatherings are on moss. Easily recognized when fresh by its delicate pink or roseate color; weathered specimens are white, and might be confused with forms of D. reticulatum, but the sporangia in the present species are less flat- tened and only rarely in special situations run off to linear or plas- modiocarpous shapes characteristic of D. reticulatum. Not common, although widely distributed from east to west. New England, New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, California (Harkness), Washington, Oregon. 8. Diderma niveum (Rostafinski) Macbr. Plate XVIII., Fig. 11 and 11 a 1875. Chondrioderma niveum Rost, Mon., p. 170. 1877. Diderma albescens Phillips, Grev., V,, p. 114. Sporangia gregarious, scattered, or more often crowded, sessile, de- pressed-spherical, sometimes ellipsoidal or elongate, white, the outer peridium crustaceous, chalky, smooth and fragile, the inner distinct, delicate, ochraceous ; hypothallus scant or none ; columella well devel- oped, globose or hemispherical, orange-tinted or ochraceous ; capil- 138 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS litium abundant, made of threads of two sorts, some purplish or dusky, with pale extremities, uneven, others more delicate and color- less, and with wart-like thickenings, all sparingly branched; spores violet-brown, minutely roughened, 9-10 /x. This species is not common. From Colorado we have fine speci- mens typical in every way. Specimens from Washington are flat so far as at present at hand; probably represent D. deplanatum (R.) List., which the last named author regards as varietal of the present species, entering it and Z>. lyallii as sub-species 2 and 1 respectively. D. deplanatum may perhaps be best so disposed of; but D. lyallii is distinguished at sight, as well as by microscopic characters, spores nearly twice as great, rougher and different in color. 9. DiDERMA CINEREUM Morg. 1894. Diderma cinereum Morg., Myx. Mi. Val., p. 70. Sporangia gregarious, more or less crowded or even confluent, sub- globose, only slightly depressed, ashen white; the peridium not ob- viously double, very smooth and thin, rupturing irregularly; hypo- thallus an indistinct membrane or wholly wanting; columella large, globose or hemispheric, white, the surface granulose; capillitium of very slender colored threads, the extremities pellucid, more or less branched ; spores violaceous, minutely warted, 9-1 1 fx. Growing on old wood, leaves, etc. The sporangium .3-.5 mm., thin and smooth or rugulose. This elegant little species I know only from specimens received from Mr. Morgan. It seems to be closely related to D. spumarioides, from which it is distinguished by its color, darker, and its smoother, or less spinulose spores. The author com- pares the color and external appearance to that of P. cinereum, — Jour. Cln. Soc, XVI., p. 154. Ohio, Pennsylvania. 10. Diderma hemisphericum (Bull.) Home. 1791. Reticularia hemisp/ierica Bull., Cham, de Ft., I., p. 93. 1829. Didymium hemisphericum (Bull.) Fr., Syst. Myc, III., p. 115. 1829. Diderma hemisphericum (Bull.) Home., Fl. Dan., XL, p. 18. 1832. Didymium michelii Lib., PI. Ard., No. 180. 1873. Chondrioderma michelii (Lib.) Rost., Fuckel, Sym. Myc, p. 74. DIDERMA 139 Sporangia gregarious, orbicular, discoid, depressed above and often umbilicate below, stipitate or sometimes sessile, the outer peridium white, fragile, crustaceous, soon breaking about the margins, closely applied to the inner, which is delicate, cinereous, and ruptures irregu- larly; stipe about equal to the diameter of the sporangium, 1 mm., rather stout, calcareous but colored, brownish or alutaceous, more or less wrinkled longitudinally, the wrinkles when present forming veins on the lower surface of the sporangium ; hypothallus small ; columella not distinct from the thickened brownish or reddish base of the sporangium ; capillitium of delicate threads, mostly simple and color- less, often scanty; spores pale violaceous, nearly smooth, 8-9 fx. A very well marked species, easily recognized, at least when stipi- tate, by its remarkable discoid or lenticular sporangia. After the spore-dispersal, the stipes are long-persistent, surmounted by a pecu- liar disk representing the consolidated columella, lower sporangial wall, and expanded stem-top. Sessile specimens are like similar forms of D. reticulatum, but in all the gatherings before us the stipitate type is at hand to reveal the identity of the species. Rostafinski's figures, 131, 146, 149, and 150, adapted from Corda, exaggerate the hypothallus, but otherwise leave nothing to be desired. As to synonymy, Bulliard has plainly the priority. His figure, t. 446, Fig. 1, can refer to nothing else, especially reenforced as it is by Sowerby, Eng. Fung., t. 12. Rather rare on fallen stems of herbaceous plants, but widely dis- tributed, New England to Oregon and Washington. 11. DiDERMA SAUTERI (Rost.) Macbr. 1875. Cliondrioderma sauteri Rost., Mon., p. 181. 1891. Cliondrioderma aculeatum Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 390. Sporangia scattered, gregarious, sessile, lenticular or hemispherical, flattened above and sometimes concave or umbilicate below, dusky or yellowish white, the outer peridium papyraceous, thin, occasionally wrinkled, rupturing irregularly, remote from the inner, which is thin, delicate, semi-transparent, grayish, rarely iridescent; hypothallus none; columella irregular, sometimes small and hardly evident, ru- gose, with spine-like processes, the persisting bases of the capillitial 140 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS threads, reddish brown ; capillitium scanty, white, or colorless, simple or sparingly branched; spores dark violaceous, spinulose, 12-13 fi. This is Chondrioderma aculeaturn Rex, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1891, p. 390. After careful comparison of specimens and various descriptions, especially that of Rostafinski with the type specimens of Dr. Rex, I am constrained to concur with Lister in adopting Rosta- finski's name. The sporangia in the type specimens (Rex) are on moss, borne at the extreme tips of acuminate or aculeate leaves, so that at first sight they appear stipitate. Apparently rare. Maine, New York. 12. DiDERMA COR-RUBRUM Macbr. 71. S. Plate XVIII., Fig. 2 Sporangia gregarious clustered, small .5-7 mm., sessile corrugate- plicate, especially above, snow-white, the outer peridium cartilaginous polished without and within, the inner delicate, evanescent ; columella well developed, globose or clavate, anchored by several stout trans- verse trabecules to the peridial wall, papillate, deep-red as is the peridium especially below; capillitium very delicate, sparingly branching, colorless; spores verruculose, fuliginous tinged with red, about 12 fx. This curious but elegant little species is represented by a single colony collected by Professor Morton Peck in Iowa. It resembles D. sauteri but is distinguished by the plicate white wall, the stout columella with its lateral extensions, as by the more delicate spores. On rotten wood. 13. DiDERMA OCHRACEUM Hojfm. 1795. Diderma ochraceum Hoffm., Deutsch. FL Tab. 9, 2, b. 1911. Diderma ochraceum Hoffm., List, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 109. Sporangia gregarious or clustered, .7-1 mm., sessile, globose or sometimes plasmodiocarpous, ochraceous yellow; outer wall cartilag- inous with yellow deposits of lime, the inner also yellow, adherent or free; columella not distinct; capillitium simple or branching, purple-brown, hyaline at base ; spores spinulose, purplish-grey, 9-1 1 fx. Mr. Lister reports this species from Massachusetts. D I DERM A 141 14. DiDERMA ROANENSE (Rex) Macbr. 1893. Chondrioderma roanense Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 368. Sporangia scattered, discoidal, thin, flattened or slightly convex above, plane or plano-concave below, umber-brown, stipitate, the out- er peridium smooth, brittle, rupturing irregularly, the basal frag- ments somewhat persistent, concrete with the inner peridium, which is pure white, except near the columella, and punctate ; stipe short, variable, longitudinally ridged, jet-black; hypothallus none; columella flat, discoidal, pale ochraceous; capillitium sparse, white or colorless, composed of simple, rarely forked, sinuous threads occasionally joined by lateral branches; spores dark violaceous, distinctly warted, 12-14 fi. This species is readily distinguished by its color. The sporangia, found on rotten wood, are large, 1 mm., brown, and have thick, per- sistent walls. Dr. Rex considered that the species differs from other related forms not only in color, but in the well-marked discoidal columella and the jet-black irregular stipe. It is perhaps most nearly related to the following species. Tennessee. 15. DiDERMA RADIATUM (Linn.) Morg. Plate XVIII., Fig. 8 1753. Lycoperdon radiatum Linn. (?) Sp. PL, 1654. 1797. Didymium stellare Schrad., Nov. Gen. PL, p. 21. 1801. Diderma stellare (Schrad.) Persoon, Syn., p. 164. 1875. Chondrioderma radiatum (Linn.) Rost., Mon., p. 182. 1894. Diderma radiatum (Linn.) Morg., Jour. Cin. Sac, p. 66. 1899. Diderma stellare Schrad., Macbr., N. A. S., p 104 1911. Diderma radiatum List, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 112. Sporangia scattered, depressed-globose, sometimes also flattened be- low, stipitate, smooth or slightly corrugate, ashen or brownish, about 1 mm. in diameter, the peridium dehiscing irregularly or somewhat radiately from above downwards, the segments reflexed, the inner layer not distinguishable, or inseparable; stipe short, stout, brownish, sometimes almost lacking; hypothallus not conspicuous, but some- times sufficient to connect the bases of adjacent stipes; columella large, hemispherical or globose, pallid or yellowish ; capillitium abun- dant, of slender generally simple, colored threads, paler at the furcate tips; spores dark violaceous, minutely roughened, 8-11 /t. 142 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS Rare on rotten logs in the forests; September. Easily recognized by the short-stiped, ashen sporangia which before dehiscence indicate by delicate tracings the lines which subsequent cleavage is to follow. In texture the peridium resembles that of D. fioriforme. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Virginia, Colorado, Washington, Oregon ; Europe generally. The Linnaean description on which to base the specific name D. radiatum is wholly inadequate. It appears also by the testimony of Linne fils, that L. radiatum Linne is a lichen ! and the name is so applied by Persoon. But in the Linnasan herbarium preserved at London, teste Lister, the original type of Lycoperdon radiatum L. may yet be seen ! to the confusion of fils, Persoon, and other followers of Schrader all, and our stellar species becomes radiate now, let us hope for long! 16. DiDERMA TREVELYANI (Grev.) Fr. 1825. Leangium trevelyani Grev., Scot., Cr. FL, Tab. 132. 1829. Diderma trevelyani (Grev.) Fr., Syst. Myc, III., p. 105. 1875. Chondrioderma trevelyani (Grev.) Rost., Mon., p. 182. 1877. Diderma geasteroides Phill., Grev., V., p. 113. 1877. Diderma laciniatum Phill., Grev., V., p. 113. Sporangia scattered, globose or nearly so, smooth or verruculose, reddish-brown or rufescent, sessile or short-stipitate, the outer perid- ium firm, splitting more or less regularly into unequal, revolute, petal-like lobes which are white within, the inner not distinguishable as such ; stipe, when present, equal, furrowed, concolorous ; columella small or none; capillitium abundant, the threads rather rigid, purple or purplish brow^n, branching and anastomosing, more or less beaded ; spores dark, violaceous brown, spinulose, 10-13 fi. In 1876, Harkness and Moore collected in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, forms of Diderma which are described by Phillips, Grev., V., p. 113, as D. geasteroides and D. laciniatum. English authorities who have examined the material agree that the forms described constitute but a single species, and Lister makes them identical with D. trevelyani (Grev.) Fr. Rostafinski's figures, 161, 162, are a curious reproduction, evidently, of Fried. Nees von Esen- beck's, Plate IX., Fig. 4. Massee describes a columella; Lister says D I DERM A 143 there is none. What may occasion such divergence of statement none may say; such forms as come in so far from our western mountains have no columella. 17. DiDERMA ASTEROIDES L/j/. Plate XVIIL, Figs. 3, 3 a 1902. Diderma aster aides List, Jour. Bot., XL, p. 209. 1911. Diderma asteroides List., Myceiozoa, 2nd ed., p. 113. Sporangia globose or ovoid-globose, the apex more or less acuminate, sessile, sometimes narrowed at the base to a short, thick stalk, brown or chocolate tinted, marked at the apex by radiant lines, and at length dehiscent by many reflexing lobes revealing the snow-white adherent inner peridium on the exposed or upper side; columella also white, globose or depressed-globose; capillitium generally colorless, some- what branched, especially above; spores dark violaceous, verruculose, 10-12 II. Oregon, the Three Sisters Mountains; Colorado; California. A very beautiful species, recognizable at sight; when unopened, by the peculiar chocolate brown, the sporangia smaller than in D. radi- atum. When opened, the snow-white flower-like figure, flat against the substratum, is definitive. Very near number 16 preceding; the dehiscence more regular. 18. Diderma floriforme (Bull.) Pers. Plate VIIL, Figs. 1, 1 a, 1 b. 1791. Sphaerocarpus floriformis Bulliard, Champ., p. 142, t. 371. 1794. Diderma floriforme (Bull.) Persoon, Rom. N. Mag. Bot., p. 89. Sporangia crowded, generally in dense colonies, globose, smooth, ochraceous-white, stipitate, the peridium thick, cartilaginous, splitting from above into several petal-like lobes, which become speedily re- flexed exposing the swarthy spore-mass, the inner peridium not discoverable, inseparable ; stipe concolorous, about equal to the sporan- gium ; hypothallus, generally well developed, but thin, membrana- ceous, common to all the sporangia; columella prominent, globose or cylindric, often constricted below, and prolonged upward almost to the top of the spore-case; capillitium of slender, delicate, sparingly 144 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS branched threads; spores dark violaceous-brown, studded with scat- tered warts, 10-11 )u. Not uncommon, especially on rotten oak logs. Easily recognized by the peculiar form of the fruit, spherical before dehiscence, flori- form after. Unlike most species, this form often fruits in dark places, in the interior of a log, even in the ground. New England, Ontario to Iowa and Nebraska, and south. 19. DiDERMA RUGOSUM (Rex) Macbr. Plate XVIII., Fig. 10. 1893. Chondrioderma rugosum Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 369. Sporangia gregarious, scattered, white or ashen, rugulose over the whole surface, the ridges marking the lines of subsequent rupture or dehiscence, the peridium thin papyraceous, stipitate; stipe well devel- oped about equal to the sporangium, subulate, almost black; hypo- thallus none; columella distinct, generally white, sometimes small, globose, sometimes penetrating the sporangium, to one-half the height ; capillitium white or colorless, the filaments freely forked and combined by lateral branches into a loose network attached to the columella and basal wall below and the upper sporangial wall above ; spores violaceous-brown, warted, 8-10 /x. This species is well designated rugosum, and is recognizable at sight by its wrinkled, areolate surface. Related to D. radiatum in the prefigured dehiscence, but otherwise very distinct. Liable to be overlooked as a prematurely dried physarum. Rare. Plasmodium gray. North Carolina, Iowa. 4. Lepidoderma DeBary 1858. Lepidoderma DeBy., MS. Rost., Versuch, p. 13. Sporangia stalked or sessile; peridium cartilaginous, adorned with- out with large calcareous scales, superficial or shut in lenticular cavi- ties; capillitium non-calcareous.^ ^ If a sporangium of L. tigrinum be mounted in water and treated to weak solution of hydro-chloric acid we may easily discover that the crystals, which so wonderfully adorn the outer wall in this and other species, consist, in part LEPIDODERMA 145 Key to Speciea of Lepidoderma A. Sporangia stipitate, stipe brown \. L. t'tgrinum B. Sporangia sessile, plasmodiocarpous, spores 10-12 M 2. L. carestianum C. Sporangia plasmodiocarpous, spores 8-10 /* . . . 2. L. chailletii 1. Lepidoderma tigrinum (Schrad.) Rost. Plate XIV., Fig. 7. 1797. Didymium tigrinum Schrad., Nov. Gen. Plantarum, p. 22. 1873. Lepidoderma tigrinum (Schrad.) Rest., Versuch, p. 13. Sporangia scattered, rather large, hemispherical-depressed, stipitate, umbilicate beneath, the peridium shining, olivaceous or purplish, tough, covered more or less abundantly with angular scales ; the stipe stout, furrowed, dark brown, but containing calcareous deposits withal, tapering upward, and continued within the peridium as a pronounced more or less calcareous columella; hypothallus more or less prominent, yellowish or brownish ; capillitium dark, purplish- brown, of sparingly branching threads radiating from the columella ; spores dull purplish-brown, minutely roughened, 10—12 /x. A singular species, rare, but easily recognized by its peculiar, placoid scales, large and firmly embedded in the peridial wall. The internal structure is essentially that of Diderma or Didymium. The species occurs in hilly or mountainous regions, on moss-covered logs. The Plasmodium pale yellow, some part of it not infrequently re- mains as a venulose hypothallus connecting such sporangia as are near together. New England to Washington and Oregon ; Vancouver Island. 2. Lepidoderma carestianum {Rabenh.) Rost. 1862. Reticularia carestiana Rabenh., MS. Fung. Eur. exsic, No. 436. 1875. Lepidoderma carestianum (Rabenh.) Rost., Mon., p. 188. 1891. Amaurochaete minor Sacc. & Ell., Mich., II., p. 566. at least, of calcium carbonate. We may also discover that in the case before us the crystal or scale lies indeed enclosed in a filmy sac of organic origin, and that could we have seen the outer peridium as it came to form, we might prob- ably have found it made up largely of an ectosarcous foam in whose cavities the excreted calcium found place for tabulate crystallization. In other species listed, conditions are different, and the crystals assume a different shape. The phrase "bicarbonate of lime" quoted in this connection in the former edition of this work from Mr. Massee's Monograph, etc., is not clear. 11 146 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS Fructification in the form of flat, pulvinate plasmodiocarps, or, anon, sporangiate, the sporangia sessile, sub-globose, ellipsoidal, elon- gate, irregular, confluent, yellowish-grey, the peridium covered more or less completely with dull white, crystals or crystal-like scales; columella, where visible, yellowish-brown, calcareous; capillitium, coarse, rigid, more or less branched and united, or colorless, delicate, forming a definite net; spores distinctly warted, purple 10-12 /x. This is a most remarkable species. The sporangiate forms little resemble those distinctly plasmodiocarpal. In the former the calcic scales and crystals are distinct and quite as in L. tigrinum; in the latter they are cuboid, irregular. The wall of the peridium in the plasmodiocarps at hand is black, and the covering accordingly shows white ; in the sporangial forms the wall is brown, and the scales have a yellow tinge as if tinged with iron. In the sporangial presentation the capillitium is intricate delicate; in the plasmodiocarp, rigid, dark- colored, etc. This looks like a didymium and in so far justifies the opinion of earlier students. Fries, of course, includes all these things with the didymiums, and D. squamulosum probably often sheltered them under extended wing. Didymium granuliferum Phill., Grev., V., p. 114, from Cali- fornia is by European authors referred here. The capillitium carries calcareous crystalline deposits in special vesicles and the spores show remarkable variation in unusual size — 15—30 ju.^ Should probably be entered Lepidoderma granuliferum (Phill.) Fr., spores 15-18 fi. Utah, — Harkness. 3. Lepidoderma chailletii Rost. Plate XVIII., Figs. 6, 6 a, 6 b. Sporangia distinct, coalescent or plasmodiocarpous, large, when iso- lated 1-1.5 mm., dull drab in color, very sparsely sprinkled with white tetrahedral or irregular scales; the peridium thin, more or less translucent, rugulose, dull brown, persistent ; columella none ; capil- litium abundant, under the lens purple-brown, sparingly branched, 1 Doubtless immature ; v. Mitteil, Natur tinctive, rigid, simple, and comparatively scant, lamprodermoid. Rex calls attention to the fact that under low magnification the spores appear spotted ; but the spots are occasioned simply by the closer aggregation, at particular points, of the ordinary papillae. A southern species. All the specimens so far reported are from the mountains of North Carolina. The specimens referred to under this name by Lister, Mon., p. 92, as coming from "Kittery, U. S. A." (Kittery, Maine?), are, no doubt, according to Mr. Lister's figures, Comatricha caespitosa Sturgis. See under that species. C. LAMPRODERMACE^ Sporangia distinct, generally gregarious, more or less spherical ; capillitium developed chiefly or solely from the summit of the columella. Key to the Genera of the Lamprodermacese A. Columella percurrent; capillitium from a disk at the apex, 1. Enerthenema B. Columella scarce reaching the centre of the sporangium. a. Capillitium not forming a net ... 2. Clastoderma b. Capillitium forming an intricate net . . 3. Lamproderma c. Minute, capillitium rudimentary . . 4. Echinostelium 1. Enerthenema Bowman 1828. Enerthenema Bowman, Trans. Linn. Soc, XVI., p. 152. Sporangia stipitate, the stipe extended as a columella, which en- tirely traverses the sporangium and forms at the apex an expanded disk; from this depends the capillitium. Key to the Species of Enerthenema A. Spores free \. E. papillatum B. Spores in clusters 2. £. berkeleyanum 190 TFIE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS 1. Enerthenema papillatum (Pers.) Rost. Plate V., Fig. 3. 1801. Stemonitis papillata Pers., Syn., p. 188. 1828. Enerthenema elegans Bowm., Trans. Linn. Soc, XVI., p. 152. 1862. Comatricha obtusata Preuss, Sturm, DeutschL Flora, PI. LXX. 1876. Enerthenema papillatum (Pers.) Rost., Mon. A pp., p. 28. Sporangia scattered or crowded, stipitate, spheroidal, naked, black fuscous, above, shining, adorned with a minute, black papilla ; stipe black, opaque, conical or attenuate upward, about equal to the perid- ium; columella at the apex expanded into a shining disk; capillitium springing from the lower side of the disk or from its edge, made up of scarcely forked threads which are free below; spores violaceous or fuscous black, minutely warted, 10-12 /u. Rare. Wisconsin, Ohio, South Carolina, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Colorado. This is one of the few species so well marked that Persoon's de- scription, I.e., is definitive: "Stylidio toto penetrante. Capillitium exacte globosum, sub-compactum, in eius apice stylidium papillae in modum prominet." For this reason Bowman's specific name elegans is discarded. 2. Enerthenema berkeleyanum Rost. 1876. Enerthenema berkeleyanum Rost., Mon. App., p. 29. 1913. Enerthenema syncarpon Sturgis, Myxo. Col., II., p. 448. This species corresponds to the preceding in all respects except in the fact that the spores are clustered in groups of four to twelve and are a little larger, 11-13 /x, strongly spinulose on the exposed surface. Dr. Sturgis reports this from Colorado, /. c., but discards Rosta- iinski's specific name on the ground that the type has disappeared ; only the spores of some fungus hyphs remain in the place and these may have been mistaken by Berkeley. This seems hardly possible since such supposition would not account for the generic reference either by Berkeley (and Broome) or by Rostafinski. The description in the Monograph is minute as that of one who had the form under his lenses. Rostafinski saw Berkeley's specimens. CLASTODERMA 191 For a similar case, see under Prototrichia metallica, Mycetozoa 2nd ed., p. 261. South Carolina, type; Colorado. 2. Clastoderma Blytt 1880. Clastoderma Blytt, Bot. Zeit., XXXVIIL, p. 343. Sporangium globose, distinct, stipitate; the columella short or obso- lete; the capillitium of few sparsely branched threads, which bear at their tops the persistent fragments of the peridium, but are not other- wise united. Distinguished from Lainproderma by the peculiar manner in which the peridium is ruptured, and by the simplicity of the scanty capil- litium. So far there appears to be but a single species. 1. Clastoderma debaryanum Blytt. Plate XIII., Fig. 6, and Plate XVI., Fig. 13. 1880. Clastoderma debaryanum Blytt, Bot. Zeit., XXXVIIL, p. 343. 1886. Orthotrichia microcephala Wing., Jour. Myc, II., p. 126. Sporangia scattered or gregarious, very minute, 1-12 to ^ mm. in diameter, the peridium fugacious, except the minute patches that ad- here to the capillitial branchlets, and the slight annulus at the base of the columella; stipe long, unequal, dark below, above paler; columella almost none, giving early rise to the comparatively few slender threads which by their repeated forking make up the capillitium; spores globose, even, violaceous, 8-9 ju,. Reported in the United States so far from Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois. The sporangia are very small, but beautiful, delicate little struc- tures, found on the bark of living red oak in this country ; in Norway it seems to have been seen first on a dead polyporus. Its minuteness doubtless causes it to be generally overlooked, N. A. F., 2498. 3. Lamproderma Rostafinski 1873. Lamproderma Rostafinski, Versuch, p. 7. Sporangia stipitate, globose, or ellipsoid ; columella cylindric or inflated or clavate at the apex, scarcely attaining half the height of 192 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS the peridium ; peridium shining with metallic tints, deciduous, except where, at the base of the columella, it forms a ring around the stipe ; capillitium rising in tufts or by simple branches from the columella, the threads regularly forked, generally united into a net. The lamprodermas are distinguished from the comatrichas, to which they are most nearly allied, by the arrangement of the capil- litium, its development from the apex only of the columella, the continuation of the stipe within the peridium. In other words, the peridium leaves the stipe some distance below the point where the lowest capillitial branches take origin. In mature specimens the peridium has often entirely disappeared, its only trace, a collar, more or less distinct, around the stipe, marking the beginning of the colu- mella. Nevertheless the peridium is far more persistent than in any comatricha, and shows in yet greater brilliancy the wondrous metallic tints and iridescence of Comatricha and Diachaea. Older authors, so far as can be seen, distributed the species between Physarum and Stemonitis. Key to the Species of Lamproderma A. Peridium metallic blue. a. Stipe short, stout. 1. Capillitium tips colorless . . . 5. Z-. violaceum b. Stipe long, slender. 1. Capillitium of dark, tapering, oft-united threads, 3. L. columhinum 2. Capillitial threads rigid, dark brown, seldom united, 4. L. scintillans B. Peridium not blue, silvery. a. Stipe long, slender. 1. Capillitium very intricate, forming a compact net, 6. L. arcyrionema 2. Capillitium of rigid dark brown threads 1. L. physaroides b. Stipe short, heads large, 1 mm. or more . 2. L. robustum 1. Lamproderma physaroides (Alb. & Schw.) Rost. 1805. Physarum physaroides Alb. & Schw., Consp. Fung., p. 103. 1875. Lamproderma physaroides (Alb. & Schw.) Rest, Mon., p. 202. Sporangia gregarious, wide-spreading, globose, the peridium per- sistent with a silver metallic, sometimes brassy, lustre; stipe long, brown or black, tapering upward ; hypothallus well developed, brown LAMPRODERMA 193 or purple, usually not continuous; columella swollen, obtuse, short at best, hardly attaining the centre of the sporangium; capillitium very rigid, of simple or sparingly branched, dark-brown threads radiating from the clavate apex of the columella and only here and there anastomosing toward the surface, the ultimate divisions distinctly rough; spores lilac brown, rough, 10-12.5 /n. This species is well described and illustrated in Rostafinski's Mono- graph. It is well marked by its clavate columella and peculiarly simple, dark rigid capillitium, the branches of which rise in great numbers immediately from the columella, and maintain their primi- tive thickness during the greater part of their length. The transverse vincula are often at right angles to the principal branches, and the meshes, where formed, are often long and rectangular. Externally, it resembles L. arcyrionema, but is by its spores and capillitium in- stantly distinguished. Rostafinski gives the spores 12.5-14.2 [i. Large spores are less common in the specimens before us. Lister figures a sessile variety. In our first edition this species was entered from lists published for New England, New York, and Ohio. The intervening years, how- ever, have brought no confirmation. Specimens from Maine and Ohio, with large spores, represent L. columbinum, and those cited for New York are forms of L. violaceum. It is accordingly doubtful that L. physaroides (A. & S.) Rost. occurs in North America. That it is to be found in Europe there seems no doubt. The figure and description by Schweinitz, /. c, may indeed be inconclusive, but Rostafinski's citation and abundant description leave no doubt as to his opinion ; while numerous localities named would indicate adequate material. What Rostafinski described will no doubt obtain wider recognition some day. 2. Lamproderma robustum Ell. ts" Evh. 1892. Lamproderma robustum Ell. & Evh., Mass., Man., p. 99. 1894. Lamproderma violaceum var. sauteri Rost., List., Mycetozoa, p. 129. 1899. Lamproderma sauteri Rost., Macbr., A'^. A. S., p. 140. Sporangia gregarious, globose, dull black, the peridium when pres- ent silvery, shining, or simply smooth, transparent and without irides- 14 194 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS cence, stipitate; stipe short, black, tapering rapidly upward, annulate with the persisting base of the peridium ; columella short, thick, trun- cate, and widened at the top; hypothallus well developed, brown or purple ; capillitium dense, made up of dark brown branches, numerous and rather slender, repeatedly branched and anastomosing toward the surface to form a slight delicate network with abundant free ends; spores dark purple brown, rough, 14-16 fi. This species in outward appearance resembles L. physarotdes, from which it is easily distinguished by the much greater diameter of the globose sporangium, 1 mm, or more. The persistent base of the peridium is also characteristic, very prominent sometimes, and visible to the naked eye. The capillitium is also unlike that of L. physa^ roides; resembles more nearly that of L. violaceum. From the latter species L. robustum is distinguished by the color of the peridium, and by the larger, darker spores and generally different capillitium. In our former edition this is called L. sauteri Rost. That much-quoted author distinguished L. violaceum and L. sauteri; the English authors make the last named a variety only of the former. This our Amer- ican species is not. It is, as presented in our western mountains, clear-cut, well defined, not a variety of anything. The original name is therefore restored. Lamproderma arcyrioides (Somm. ) Morgan is probably a form of L. columbinum. The original L. arcyrioides has not yet been cer- tainly identified in North America ; see following species. Colorado, Oregon, Washington, California. 3. Lamproderma columbinum (Pers.) Rost. 1796. Physarum columbinum Pers., Obs. Myc, I., p. 5. 1875. Lamproderma columbinum Rost., Mon., p. 203. Sporangia scattered, gregarious ; rich violet or purple with metallic iridescence, globose, stipitate; the stipe long, three-fourths the total height, slender, subulate, black ; hypothallus scant, purplish or brown ; columella small, one-third the height or less, tapering or acute, black; the capillitium brown throughout, not dense, arising from nearly all parts of the columella, freely branching and anastomosing to an open, large-meshed network; spore-mass black, spores by transmitted light dark brown, rough, 10-12 fi. LAMPRODERMA 195 Rostafinski distinguished this beautiful species by the color of the peridium and the conic columella. According to Mr. Lister, Rosta- finski was not specially careful in labelling his material, different forms having been included under this specific name. Nevertheless, the description is well drawn, and excludes L. physaroides completely. At all events our American specimens correspond so well with the description of L. columbinum (Pers.) Rost, that there seems no doubt that we have here what the Polish author figured and de- scribed, whether or not he was always consistent in applying his labels. The color distinguishes at sight the present species from L. physaroides, and the capillitium and large rough brown spores dis- tinguish it from L. violaceuni. The capillitium of the minute L. scintillans is much denser and more rigid, and the spores smaller. The stipe when dry is ciliate. This is the common species of our western mountains, especially on the Pacific slope. In the Cascades every dark ravine is certain to show it in later summer and autumn, far extended colonies covering the moist surfaces of every mouldering log; the myriad globoid sporangia giving back when brought to the sunlight the most extrava- gant blues and greens with all the splendor of metallic sheen, their brilliant beauty never fails to quicken the attention of even the most insensate tourist. Abundant in the western forests, in the east extremely rare ; Maine, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, Oregon ; Vancouver, Canada. 4. Lamproderma scintillans (Berk. &' Br.) Morg. Plate V., Figs. 2, 2 a. 1877. Stemonitis scintillans Berk. & Br., Jour. Linn. Soc, XV., p. 2. 1877. Lamproderma arcyrioides, var. iridea Cke., Myx. G. B., p. 50. 1892. Lamproderma irideum (Cke.) Mass., Mon., p. 95. 1894. Lamproderma scintillans (Berk. & Br.) Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc, p. 47. Sporangia gregarious, scattered, globose or depressed-globose, rich metallic blue or purple, iridescent, stipitate ; the stipe long, slender, even, inclined and nodding or sometimes erect; hypothallus small, circular; columella cylindric, small, not reaching the centre, black; 196 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS capillitium dense, of rigid, straight, sparingly branched or anasto- mosing, brown threads, which are sometimes white or colorless just as they leave the columella; spores globose, rough, violaceous brown. This is L. irideum of Cooke and of Massee's Monograph. Its capillitium is remarkable, and constitutes an easy diagnostic mark. The threads appear at first sight entirely simple, but are really sev- eral times furcate, and not infrequently anastomose. The spores are covered with sparsely sown large papilla, easily seen under moderate magnification. This is one of our earliest species. To be sought in May on beds of decaying oak leaves in the woods, especially in wet places, near streams, etc. Rare. New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa. 5. Lamproderma violaceum (Fries) Rost. 1829. Stemonitis violacea Fries, Syst. Myc, III., p. 162. 1875. Lamproderma violaceum (Fries) Rost., Mon., p. 204. Sporangia closely gregarious or scattered, depressed-globose, more or less umbilicate below, metallic blue or purple, sessile or short stipi- tate ; stipe stout, dark brown or black, even ; hypothallus, when the sporangia are crowded, a thin, continuous, purplish membrane ; when the sporangia are scattered, the hypothallus discoidal ; columella cylindric or tapering slightly upward, the apex obtuse, black, attain- ing the centre of the sporangium ; capillitium lax and flaccid, made up of flexuous threads branching and anastomosing to form a net- work, open in the interior, more dense without, the threads at first pale brown as they leave the columella, becoming paler outward to the colorless tips ; spores minutely warted, violaceous gray, 9-1 1 /t. This is our most common species ; found on decaying sticks and logs late in the fall. Its pale capillitium will usually distinguish it, espe- cially where the sporangia are empty; then the pallid free extremities of the capillitial branches give to the little spheres under the lens a white or hoary appearance not seen in any other species. The Plasmodium is at first almost transparent, then amber tinted, sending up tiny semi-transparent spheres on shining brownish stalks. LAMPRODERMA 197 As the changes approach maturity, the sporangia become jet-black, and only at last when the spores are ready for dispersal does the peridium assume its rich metallic purple tints. Colonies a meter in length, two or three decimeters in width, are sometimes seen ! New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota; Toronto. Common. 6. Lamproderma arcyrionema Rost. Plate V., Figs. \, \ a. 1875. Lamproderma arcyrionema Rost., Mon., p. 208. Sporangia gregarious, scattered, globose, silvery gray or bronze, iridescent, erect, stipitate; stipe black, long, two-thirds to three- fourths the total height, slender, rigid; columella slender, cylindric, attaining about one-third the height of the sporangium when it breaks into the primary branches of the capillitium; capillitium ex- ceedingly intricate, made up of slender, flexuous brown threads which frequently branch and anastomose to form an elegant round-meshed network resembling that of Arcyria, free ultimate branchlets not numerous; spores in mass jet-black, by transmitted light violaceous, smooth, or only faintly warted, 6-8 yu.. In outward appearance this species resembles L. physaroides, but is easily recognizable by its very peculiar capillitium. This, in its pri- mary branching, resembles a comatricha. In typical forms, the colu- mella branches at the apex only, generally into two strong divisions which then break up irregularly and anastomose in every direction. This seems to have been the form present to Rostafinski when he wrote "columella truncate." In Central American and some North American specimens, the branching is very different ; the twigs leave the columella at various points almost down to the annulus, and the entire effect is dendroid. The columella is lost almost at once. A small form of this species was formerly distributed in the United States as Comatricha friesiana DeBy. This circumstance led the present author to describe Central American forms as C. shimekiana. Judging from a remark by Massee {Mon., p. 97), a similar confusion seems to have prevailed in Europe. As a matter of fact, the resem- 198 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS blance between C. friesiana, i. e. C. nigra, and the present species is sufficiently remote. Lamproderma minutum Rostafinski seems to be a small form of this species. Rostafinski bases his diagnosis upon the branching of the columella, which is, as we have seen, inconstant, and upon the color- less capillitium. This feature in specimens examined is also in- constant. Occurring in large colonies on barkless decaying logs of various species; the Plasmodium almost colorless. New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Louisiana, Texas, Mexico, Nicaragua ; Vancouver's Island ; Ontario, Toronto, — Miss Carrie. 4. Echinostelium DeBary 1873. Echinostelium DeBary, Rost., Versuch, p. 7. Sporangia distinct, globose, minute, the structure limited to a few imperfect rib-like, loosely joined branches developed from the short columella or stem-top, sustaining the spores. A single species : — 1. Echinostelium minutum DeBy. 1873. Echinostelium minutum DeBy., Rost., Versuch, p. 7. Plate XIX., Figs. 11 and 11a Sporangia distinct, scattered, globose, very minute, 40-50 /u, stipi- tate; the stipe, hair-like subulate, granular but hyaline; columella minute or none; capillitium consisting of a few arcuate spinose threads loosely united supporting the uncovered spores, spores globose, colorless, smooth, 7-8 /a. — Rostafinski. This very singular and diminutive form, the least of all slime- moulds, is probably widely distributed but the accident of discovery is rare, DeBary found it once only, at Frankfurt am Main. Miss Lister reports its occurrence in England and Austria. In the United States it has been seen but once on certain laboratory mate- rial from Massachusetts, studied by Dr. Thaxter. Our drawing is after Rostafinski, IV., 68 ; Miss Lister follows No. 54, and so finds a bit of peridium below the two spores shown in the figure, one on each side of a microscopic columella. CRIBRARIALES 199 This is almost the only taxonomic suggestion ; — a mere sugges- tion; this microscopic bit of anxious life is but a shadow, — a shade, a shadow of a lamproderma! Order III CRIBRARIALES Fructification plasmodiocarpous or aethalioid, or consisting of dis- tinct sporangia; peridia membranaceous at maturity, more or less evanescent, opening irregularly or by means of a delicate network, which involves at least the upper part of the sporangium ; capillitium usually none; spores of some shade of brown, umbrine, rarely purplish. This order is distinguished — except in a single case — by the entire absence of true capillitium, the pallid or brown spores, the gradual evolution of distinct sporangia in which provision for spore- dispersal is made by peridial modification especially at the sporangium- top. Key to the Families of the Cribrariales A. Fructification plasmodiocarpous scattered as if made up of the segments of the plasmodial net Liceac^ B. Fructification of distinct and separate sporangia, long stipitate, opening by a delicate operculum at the top . . . OrcadellacEjE C. Fructification aethalioid, the sporangia generally more or less tubular, often prismatic by mutual pressure; opening by rupture of the apex, the lateral walls entire TuBiFERACEiE D. Fructification aethalioid, the sporangia ill defined, their walls more or less perforate, frayed, or dissipated, forming a pseudo-capillitium, RETICULARIACEiE E. Fructification of distinct and separate sporangia, the walls more or less reticulately perforate especially above . . . CRiBRARiACEiE A. LICEACE.E A single genus, — 1. Licea (Schrader) Rost. 1797. Licea Schrader, Nov. Gen. Plant., p. 16, in part. 1875. Licea (Schrader) Rost., Mon., p. 218. Sporangia plasmodiocarpous, looped, irregular, or distinct, sessile, 200 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS and regularly rounded or elliptical ; the peridium simple, rather firm, ruptured irregularly or by simple fissure; hypothallus none. This genus is distinguished from other similar plasmodiocarpous forms by the extreme simplicity of its structure. There is absolutely no capillitium nor anything like it, simply a mass of spores surrounded by thin membranous walls. The spores range from pale olive, color- less under the lens, through various shades of brown to dusky almost black in L. pusilla. Schrader included the Tubifera species. Key to the Species of Licea A. Plainly plasmodiocarpous . . .- . . 1. L. variabilis B. Opening by regular segments. 1. Segments two only 3. L, biforis 2. Segments several. i. Spores brown 4. L. minima ii. Spores dusky olive 5. L. pusilla 1. LiCEA VARIABILIS Schrader. Plate XII., Figs. 7 and 8. 1797. Licea variabilis Schrader, Nov. Gen., p. 18, PI. VI., Figs. 5 and 6. 1801. Licea variabilis Schr., Pers., Syn. Meth., p. 197. 1801. Licea flexuosa Pers., Syn. Meth., p. 197. 1911. Licea flexuosa Pers., List., Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 189. Fructification plasmodiocarpous, elongate, hamate, annulate or ir- regularly repent, very dark brown, rough, the peridium of two layers, the outer closely adhering, dark brown, thick, opaque, the inner deli- cate, membranous, very thin, transparent, iridescent, rugulose, rup- turing irregularly; hypothallus none; spores in mass pale yellow with a greenish tinge, by transmitted light nearly colorless, large, globose, minutely spinulose, 12.5 ^. This is the largest species of the genus as represented in this coun- try, the plasmodiocarps of various lengths and from .5-.7 /x wide. Somewhat resembling some species of Ophiotheca, but of much darker color. The outer peridium is deciduous, and the inner slowly rup- tures, by irregular fissures discharging the spores. The Plasmodium, according to Schrader, is white. Rare. Probably overlooked. Any good reason for changing the name given to this form so well LICE A 201 illustrated and described by Schrader does not appear. Persoon quotes his predecessor's species and adds L. flexuosa on his own ac- count; strangely enough, since Schrader expressly describes L. varia- bilis, "in uno eodemque enim loco peridium hemisphericum, ovatum, oblongum flexuosum vel aliter formatum diversi est diametri." New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa. Licea flexuosa Pers. is by Schweinitz reported from Pennsylvania. It is described as having brown spores, 10-15 /a, spinulose. 2. Licea biforis Morffan. Plate XIL, Fig. 10. 1893. Licea biforis Morgan, Jour. Cin. Soc, p. 5. Sporangia regular, compressed, sessile on a narrow base, gregari- ous; the wall firm, thin, smooth, yellow brown in color and nearly opaque, with minute, scattered granules on the inner surface, at maturity opening into two equal parts, which remain persistent by the base; spores yellow-brown in mass, globose or oval, even, 9-12 /u,. Minute but perfectly regular, almost uniform, corneous-looking sporangia are thickly strewn over the inner surface of decaying bark. Each, at first elongate, pointed at each end, opens at length by fissure along the upper side setting free the minute yellowish spores. Unlike anything else; reminding one, at first sight, of some species of Glonium. Inside bark of Liriodendron. Ohio, Canada. 3. Licea minima Fries. 1829. Licea minima Fries, Syst. Myc, III., p. 199. Sporangia gregarious, umber-brown, spherical or hemispherical, sessile; the peridium opaque, brown, opening along pre-figured lines, forming segments with dotted margins, ultimately widely reflexed ; spores in mass dark brown, by transmitted light paler with olive tints, minutely roughened, 10-11 /x. The very minute sporangia, 3 mm,, of this species cause it to be overlooked generally by collectors. Nevertheless, it may be found on decaying soft woods, in August, probably around the world. The 202 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS number of sporangia produced by one plasmodium is in Iowa also small. The larger specimens might be mistaken for species of Peri- chaena, but are easily distinguished by the regular and lobate de- hiscence. The Plasmodium is yellow. Dr. George Rex, in almost the last paper from his hand, gives an interesting account of this diminutive species. Among various gath- erings studied he found a black variety, a melanistic phase, so to say, and was able to follow the evolution of the sporangia from the yellow Plasmodium. The sutures by which the peridium opens, first show signs of dififerentiation by change of color from yellow through garnet to black. Later the entire wall undergoes similar color changes, beginning next the completed sutural delimitations. Of the open peridia, the reflexed segments remind one of certain didermas, as D. radiatum. See Bot. Gaz.. Vol. XIX., p. 399. New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Iowa. 4. LiCEA PUSILLA Schrader. 1797. Licea pusilla Schrad., Nov. Gen. PL, p. 19, tab. VI,, f. 4. 1829. Physarum licea Fries, Syst. Myc, III., p. 143. 1875. Protoderma pusilla (Schrader) Rost., Mon., p 90. Sporangia scattered, gregarious, depressed-globose, sessile on a flat- tened base, dark brown, shining, .5-1 mm. ; peridium thin, dark colored, translucent, dehiscent above by regular segments; spore-mass almost black, spores by transmitted light olivaceous brown, smooth, or nearly so, 15-17 fi. Fries, /. c, makes this a physarum, and argues the case at length, evidently with such efficiency that he greatly impressed Rostafinski, who did not make it a physarum indeed, but actually gave it generic place and station of its own; a physarum may do without calcium in the capillitium perhaps, but not be entirely non-calcareous; so he writes Protoderma (first cover) and places the species number 1 on the long list of endosporous forms. Even in his 'Dodatek', or supple- ment, as we should say, he refers to the thing again, but only to correct the inflexional ending of the specific name ; he writes Proto- derma pusillum (Schrader) Rost! Schweinitz reports the species for America and Morgan cites ORCADELLA 203 Schvveinitz and reports it for Ohio, but we find it in no American collections. B. ORCADELLACE^ Sporangia distinct, minute, long stipitate, opening above by a dis- tinct lid. A single genus, — Orcadella Wingate 1889. Orcadella Wingate, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 280. Sporangia furnished with rigid, unpolished stipes, blending above with the substance of the thick unpolished walls; the operculum thin, delicate, membranaceous. A single species, — 1. Orcadella operculata Wingate. Plate XII., Fig. 11. 1889. Orcadella operculata Wingate, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 280. Sporangia scattered, gregarious, ellipsoidal, ovoid, obconical or nearly globose, dull brown or blackish, the wall simple, thick, coarse, at the top replaced by a delicate, thin, yellowish, iridescent, lustrous or vernicose membrane which forms a circular, smooth, or wrinkled lid, soon deciduous; stipe of varying height, rough from deposit of plasmodic refuse; spores, in mass yellowish, globose, smooth, 8-11 u. This curious little species, well described by its discoverer, appears to be very rare. At least it is seldom collected ; overlooked by reason of its minuteness. It is a stipitate licea, or a lid-covered cribraria; perhaps nearer the former. It affects the bark of species of Quercus, and seems to be associated there with Clastoderma debaryanum. N. A. F., 2497. Pennsylvania, Maine. C. TUBIFERACE.^ Fructification asthalioid or of distinct sporangia ; sporangia well de- fined, tubular, often prismatic by mutual pressure, seated on a com- mon, well-marked hypothallus, at length dehiscent by the irregular 204 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS rupture of the pcridfum, in typical cases at the apex, its walls remain- ing then otherwise entire; capillitial threads in No. 3, only. Key to the Genera of the Tubiferaceae A. Spores olivaceous; sporangia in one or several series, 1. Lindbladia B. Spores umber; sporangia in a single series ... 2. TuBlFERA C. Sporangia stipitate; capillitium of tubular threads . 3. Alwisia 1. Lindbladia Fries 1849. Lindbladia Fries, Sum. Veg. Scand., p. 449. Fructification aethalioid ; the sporangia short, tubular, sometimes superimposed, sometimes forming a simple stratum, in the latter case generally sessile, but sometimes short-stipitate, the peridium at first entire, at length opening irregularly either at the sides or apex, beset with granules; spores olivaceous. This genus was established by Fries in 1849 to accommodate a single species of wide distribution and somewhat varying habit, which is neither a tubifera nor yet a cribraria and offers points of resem- blance to each. It is distinct in that the sporangia, while often in single series, are yet often superimposed. It resembles Tubifera in its simple sporangia, opening without the aid of a net; it is like Cribraria in the smooth ochraceous-olivaceous spores and granulifer- ous peridium. 1. Lindbladia effusa (Ehr.) Rost. Plate I., Figs. 3, 3 a, Plate XII., Figs, 1, 2. 1818. Licea effusa Ehr., Syh. Myc. Ber., p. 26. 1875. Lindbladia effusa (Ehr.) Rost., Mon., p. 223. 1879. Perichaena caespitosa Peck., Rep. N. Y. Mus.. XXXI., p. 57. Sporangia minute, either closely combined and superimposed, so as to form a pulvinate aethalium, or crowded together in a single layer, sessile, or short-stipitate; the peridia thin, membranous, marked by scattered plasmodic granules, often lustrous, sometimes dull lead- colored or blackish, especially above ; stipe, when present, very short but distinct, brown, rugulose; hypothallus well developed, membra- nous, or more or less spongiose in structure; spore-mass ochraceous, under the lens, nearly smooth, almost colorless, 6-7.5 /x. TUBIFERA 205 This very variable species has been well studied by Dr. Rex. See Bot. Gaz., XVII., p. 201. In its simpler phases it presents but a single layer of sporangia generally closely crowded together, some- times free and even short stipitate! In the more complex phase the sporangia are heaped together in a pulvinate mass in which the peridia appear as boundaries of minute cells. In this case the outer- most sporangia are often consolidated to form a cortex more or less dense and shining. In any case the hypothallus is a prominent fea- ture ; generally laminated and of two or three layers, it is in the more hemispheric asthalia very much more complex, sponge-like. When thin this structure is remarkable for its wide extent, 40-50 cm. ! The simpler forms approach very near to Cribraria through C. argillacea. The most complex remind us of Enteridium. This is Perichaena caespitosa Peck. In this country it has, how- ever, been generally distributed as L. effusa Ehr. This author throws some doubt on the species he describes by suggesting that the Plasmo- dium may be red. The description, however, and figures are other- wise good and are established by the usage of Rostafinski. The Plasmodium has much the same color as the mature fruit. Widely distributed. New England to the Black Hills and Colo- rado, south to Arkansas. California, about Monterey. 2. Tubifera Gmelin 1791. Tubifera Gmelin, Syst. Nat., II., p. 1472. Sporangia tubular, by mutual pressure more or less prismatic, con- nate, pale ferruginous-brown, iridescent, the walls thin, slightly gran- ular, 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 qase 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 CEder, 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 Bui- \ 206 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS liard's plates leave no doubt as to the forms he included. Gmelin writes: "Thecse (membranae expansae superimpositae) inter se con- natae seminibus nudiusculis replete." 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, iridescent; hypothallus strongly de- veloped, spongiose, white, often projecting beyond the aethalioid mass of sporangia ; spore-mass umber-brown or ferruginous ; spores by trans- mitted light almost colorless, plainly reticulate over three-fourths of the surface, 6-7 fi. Not rare on old logs, mosses, etc., from Maine to Alaska. Ap- parently more common north than south. Easily known by its long, tubular sporangia packed with rusty spores and destitute of any trace of columella or capillitium, the hypothallus explanate, rather thick, but not columnar. A single plasmodium may give rise to one or sev- eral colonies, at first watery or white, then red, of somewhat varying TUBIFERA 207 shades, then finally umber-brown. These colors were noticed by all the older authors, but very inaccurately; thus a white Plasmodium is the basis for Tubifera cylindrica (Bull.) Gmel., a roseate Plasmodium for Tubifera iragiformis (Bull.) Gmel., and the mature fructification for Tubifera ferruginosa (Batsch) Gmel. Rostafinski adopted a spe- cific name given by Bulliard, but Batsch has clear priority. The peridia are sometimes accuminate, and widely separate above. This is Persoon's T. fragiformis. In most cases, however, the peridia are connate throughout, and sometimes present above a membranous common covering. This is T. fallax of Persoon ; Licea cylindrica (Bull.) Fries. In forms with thicker peridia, the walls often show the granular markings characteristic of the entire Anemeae. 2. Tubifera stipitata (Berk. & Rav.) Macbr. 1858. Licea stipitata Berk, & Rav., Am. Acad., IV., p. 125.i 1868. Licea stipitata Berk, & Rav., Jour. Linn. Soc, X., p. 350. 1875. Tubulina stipitata (Berk. & Rav.) Rost,, p. 223. Sporangia crowded in a globose or more or less hemispheric, ex- panded head, borne upon a spongy, stem-like, sulcate hypothallus 3-4 mm. high, their apices rounded, their walls very thin, evanescent; spores in mass umber-brown, small, about 5 /x, the epispore reticulate as in the preceding species. This differs from number 1 chiefly in the cushion-like receptacle on which the crowded sporangia are borne, and in the smaller spores. The species originates in a Plasmodium at first colorless, then white, followed by salmon or buff tints, which pass gradually into the dark brown of maturity. This peculiar succession of colors is perhaps more diagnostic than the difference in habit. The spores are, how- ever, constantly smaller in all the specimens we have examined, and the stipitate habit very marked. New England, New York, south to South Carolina, and west to South Dakota ; our finest specimens are from Missouri. 3. Tubifera casparyi (Rost.) Macbr. Plate XII., Fig. 9. 1876. Siphoptychium casparyi Rost., Mon. A pp., p. 32. ^ For this citation we are indebted to Mr. Hugo Bilgram. 208 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS Sporangia closely crowded, tubular, cylindrfc or prismatic by mu- tual pressure, connate, the apices rounded, convex, covered by a con- tinuous membrane, umber-brown ; the peridia firm, persistent, minutely granular, iridescent; hypothallus well developed, thin, brown, explanate; pseudo-columellas erect, rigid, traversing many of the sporangia, and in some instances bound back to the peridial walls by slender, membranous bands or threads, a pseudo-capillitium ; spore-mass dark brown or umber, spores by transmitted light pale, globose, reticulate, 7.5-9 /x. This is Siphoptychium casparyi Rost. In Bot. Gaz., XV., p. 319, Dr. Rex shows that the relationships of the species are with Tubifera; that the so-called columella is probably an abortive sporangium, the so-called capillitial threads having no homology with the capillitial threads of the true columelliferous forms. It is a good species of Tubifera, nothing more. The tubules are shorter than in either of the preceding species; the spores are darker, larger, and more thor- oughly reticulate. The Plasmodium is given by Dr. Rex, /. c, as \vhite, then "dull gray tinged with sienna color," then various tones of sienna-brown, to the dark umber of the mature jethalium. New York, Adirondack Mountains ; Allamakee Co., Iowa. 3. Alwisia Berk. &' Br. Plate XIX., Figs. 5 and 5 a. 1873. Alivisia Berk. & Br., Jour. Linn. Soc, Vol. XIV., p. 86. Sporangia ellipsoidal, clustered, stipitate; dehiscence by the falling away of the upper part of the peridium disclosing a persisting pencil of capillitial threads. A single species : — 1. Alwisia bombarda Berk. &" Br.. 1873. Alivisia bombarda Berk. & Br., Jour. Linn Soc, XIV., p. 86. Sporangia gathered in clusters of four to eight, surmounting coa- lescent, or sometimes divergent stalks, rusty-brown, or pallid, the peridium evanescent above; the coalescing stalks forming, especially below, a clustered column, 2 mm. in height, equalling the sporangia, dull reddish-brown in color; capillitium of rigid, tubular, generally RETICVLARIA 209 simple threads, attaching above by delicate tips, below by a broader sometimes branching base, sometimes conjoined near the peridial wall, now and then at irregular intervals inflated slightly or anon bulbose, roughened by projecting spinules, one-third the diameter, brownish or yellow; spores reddish-brown, faintly marked by reticulating bands over large part of the surface, 5-5.5 /x. This peculiar species looks at first very little like a myxomycete. The stiff projecting hairs of the capillitium are hyphal in appearance and under the lens recall the phycomycetes ; but the spores and withal the general structure seem to claim recognition here. Rostafinski was inclined to make a trichia of it, because of the hair-like capillitium, and markings on the threads, Massee found indistinct spiral markings even, enough to suit at least the prototrichias. Mr. Lister would put it near the tubifers. Father Torrend thinks of the dianemas, mar- garitas, etc., because of simple capillitium attached above and below! Spore-characters are probably the index most reliable, and the partial reticulation suggests association with Tubtfera and for the present it may find station there, as in the English monograph. Rare. Collected three times: twice in Ceylon, once in Jamaica. By the courtesy of Dr. Farlow, late lamented, we record the western specimens. D. RETICULARIACE.E Fructification aethalioid ; the sporangia sometimes poorly defined, intricately associated, borne on a common hypothallus and covered above by a common cortex; the lateral walls variously perforate and incomplete, form a pseudo-capillitium ; spores umber or ochraceous. Key to the Genera of the Reticulariaceee A. Spores umber. a. Sporangia wholly indeterminate, their walls much consolidated below, fraying out above into long, slender threads, 1. Reticularia b. Sporangia bounded, more or less distinctly, by broad perforate plates throughout 2. Enteridium B. Spores ochraceous 3. DiCTYDii^THALiUM 1. Reticularia (Bull.) Rost. 1791. Reticularia Bulliard, Champ, de la France, p. 95, in part. 1873. Reticularia (Bulliard) Rost., Versuch, p. 6. 15 210 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS Plasmodium at first white, then pink, 'ashes of roses,' etc. Sporan- gia wholly indeterminate or undefined, their walls represented ( ?) by a spongy mass of so-called capillitium, consisting of membranous plates, branching, anastomosing, vanishing without order or sym- metry, generally giving rise at the sides, and especially above, to long slender ficxuous threads; outer cortex silvery white; hypothallus dis- tinct, white; spore-mass and threads umber or rusty brown. A single species, — 1. Reticularia lycoperdon (Bull.) Rost. Plate X,, Figs. 7, 7a; Plate XII., Fig. 3. 1791. Reticularia lycoperdon Bull., Champ, de la France, p. 95. vEthalium pulvinate, 2-8 cm. broad, at first silvery white, later less lustrous, the cortex irregularly and slowly deciduous; hypothallus at first conspicuous as a white margin extending round the entire aethalium, evanescent without, but persisting as a firm membrane beneath the spore-mass, pseudo-capillitium abundant, tending to form erect central masses which persist long after the greater part of the fruit has been scattered by the winds; spore-mass umber, spores by transmitted light pale, reticulate over about two-thirds of the surface, the remainder slightly warted, 8-9 fi. Not common. Often confused with the following, the spores of the two forms being very much alike ; the internal structure, entire- ly different, and once compared, the two are thereafter easily dis- tinguished at sight by external characters. The sporangial make-up is indifferent, confused. It represents a phase in development whence might issue columellae with capillitium-branches or distinct tubular sporangia with persisting walls; or are such structures here but rem- iniscent only? Compare Amaurochaete atra, where similar con- ditions prevail. There differentiation goes on to the formation of a structure of which Sternonitis is type; here the sporangium-wall be- comes dominant; suffers modification for spore-disposal, an idea reach- ing fair expression in Cribraria and Dictydium. The Plasmodium is \\hite, noted Bulliard. Fries cites with ap- proval the words of Schweinitz, — "color corticis ab initio argenteus ENTERIDIUM 211 sericeo nitore insignis ; sed deinde sordescit e griseo in subfuscum ver- gens." Sometimes the surface does indeed shine as silver! The fructification appears to be isolated in each case; the entire Plasmodium consumed in a single plasmodiocarp. Widely distributed. Maine to California, and south. 2. Enteridium Ehrenberg 1818. Enteridium Ehrenberg, Link and Spreng., Jahrb., Bd. II., p. 55. Fructification asthalioid ; the confluent sporangia inextricably inter- woven, the walls perforate by large openings, the resultant network of broad plates and bands widening at the points of intersection. The genus Enteridium is distinguished from Reticularis chiefly by the more perfectly developed sporangial walls. These are every- where membranous and do not show the abundant filiform dissipa- tion so characteristic of Reticularia. The resultant structure in Re- ticularia is a mass of more or less lengthened and anastomosing threads ; in Enteridium, an exceedingly delicate but sufficiently persistent sponge. The "net-like, three-winged skeleton" referred to by Ros- tafinski results from the union at one point of three adjoining spor- angia. Compare the section of the adjoining cells of a honeycomb. Of this genus there are but two or three species, all so far occur- ring in our territory. Key to the Species of Enteridium A. Fructification umber brown \ E. splendens B. Fructification olivaceous 2. E. olivaceum C. Fructification minute, 1-2 mm 3. E. minutum 1. Enteridium splendens Morg. Plate I., Figs. 1, \ a, \b; Plate XII., Figs. 4, 5. 1876. Reticularia {!) rozeanum Rost., Mon. App., p. 33. 1889. Enteridium rozeanum (Rost.) Wing., Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 156. 1892. Enteridium rozeanum Wingate, Macbr., Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. Iowa, XL, p. 117. 1893. Reticularia splendens Morg., Jour. Cin. Sac, p. 11. 1899. Enteridium splendens Morg., Morg. in litt. iEthalium pulvinate, even, or somewhat irregular, unevenly swollen 212 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS or inflated, lobate or compound, covered by an exceedingly thin, gen- erally smooth, shining, but never white, pellicle or cortex, brown, from 1—6 cm. in diameter; hypothallus white, often wide ex- tending; capillitium none; the sporangial walls thin and brown forming a network as above described; spore-mass umber, spores by transmitted light pale, about two-thirds of the surface reticulate, the rest nearly smooth, 7-9 /x. Very common, especially west, on decaying logs and stumps of every description. Easily distinguished by its brown color and smooth, shining, though uneven surface. The Plasmodium as it emerges to form fruit is pale pink or flesh color, slowly deepening to brown as ma- turity advances. The first emergence is a watery white. New England, Canada, to Minnesota and Nebraska, South Da- kota, In 1876 Rostafinski provisionally referred to the genus Reticularia certain specimens received from M. Roze of Paris. Thirteen years later in correspondence with M. Roze, Mr. Wingate satisfied himself that the specimens discovered by Roze were the same as our common enteridium. He therefore, /. c, applied to our American forms the name they have widely borne, E. rozeanum. Mr. Lister, Jour, of Botany, Sept. '91, applied the Rostafinskian name to ertain English specimens. Thereafter to be known as Reticularia lobata Rost. and so fixed the status of that species. From all the literature before us it appears that Mr. Lister w^as right. R. lobata List, (now Liceop- sis lobata (List.) Torr., occurs in various parts of Europe, while our American species of Enteridium is yet to be discovered on that side of the sea! Were the latter native to the old world at all, it had surely been seen long ago. It is large and fine, and could not have escaped the famous collectors of the last two hundred years. Although it has been sent by students from this side of the ocean to Europe for more than thirty years, it has not even adventitiously appeared. It therefore appears that our American species is known to Europe through Mr. Wingate's reference only. Tw^enty years ago in correspondence with Mr. Wingate it was learned that the material received by him from M. Roze was but ENTERIDIUM 213 a small fragment, crushed flat, and even this was at that time no longer in evidence. This specimen was itself not part of the gathering submitted to Rostafinski; but only the fragment of some- thing appearing in 1890 in the same locality! . . . . "something not the same. But only like its forecast in men's dreams." When we further reflect that the spores of species of several of the forms now in review, Tubifera, Reticularia, Enteridium, are not without difliculty distinguished, it is easy to see that Mr. Wingate's specific reference has narrow foundations to say the least. It seems now likely that Father Torrend's Liceopsis, Reticulara lobata R., M. Roze's aftermath, and all, are but the depauperate forms of some tubifera! E. rozeanum Wing., is therefore the synonj^m for an ill-defined something in Western Europe and need not further here concern us as far material reference goes. In any case, what induced Mr. Wingate to pull Rostafinski's un- certain description of a problematic form across the sea, to attach it to our clearly defined and well known American species, changing the Polish description the while to make it fit, is hard to understand ; especially in view of the fact, by Wingate admitted, that Rex had in his letters to Morgan already named the American type Enteridium umbrinum. The two students differed as to generic refer- ence, and later on Morgan published Reticularia splendens Morg. ; rather than R. umbrina (Rex) Morg. because he was using R. um- brina Fr. for what is generally known as R. ly coper don {Bull.) It would then appear that when Wingate sought to impose the Rostafinskian specific name upon our American form by changing (fixing!) Rostafinski's generic reference, and by re-writing the specific description from the pages of the Monograph in order to claim identity, he was entirely without justification, especially since he knew the species appropriately named by his colleague. Dr. Rex, and had the name as used in the Rex and Morgan correspondence. In brief; Mr. Wingate proceeded to re-describe Rostafinski's rozean specimen and referred a long-known American form (very different) to the European specimen as type. Wingate's description is right; 214 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS he had the American material before him; but his cited type is worth- less, an entirely different thing. Does the reader care to see what the European type of our common form, Wingate teste, really looks like, let him consult the Jour, of Botany, Vol. XXIX., p. 263, 1891. 2. Enteridium olivaceum Ehr. 1818. Enteridium olivaceum Ehr. /Ethalium depressed flat, oval or elongate, .3 cm. in extent, .6 mm. thick when fresh, glossy, smooth, greenish-olivaceous-brown ; within a spongy net-work representing sporangial walls which are thin, pale olivaceous, perforate by circular openings, meshes surrounded by wide plates; spores in clusters, six or more together, ovoid, distinctly warted at the wider end, pale olivaceous, 9-1 1 fi. This, the type of the genus, is a very distinct species of this by its structure readily distinguished form. Fries thought the species might represent a less perfectly-developed reticularia, and therefore wrote Reticularia oltvacea noting, however, the clustered spores and the lack of hypothallus. Common, as would appear, in Europe and in S. America; rare with us. Reported from N. Hampshire and we have one specimen from Colorado. 3. Enteridium minutum Sturg. 1917. Enteridium minutum Sturg., Mycologia, IX, p. 328. i^thalia rounded or elongate, pulvinate, pale umber in color, seated on a broad membranous base, 1.5-2 mm. in diameter; wall wrinkled and usually marked with small scattered pits, pale-yellow, membranous; walls of component sporangia, membranous, minutely roughened, perforated with round openings, the margins of which show many free threads; or reduced to irregular, anastomosing strands arising from the base of the aethalium, with membranous or net-like expansions at the angles and with many delicate, free, pointed ends. Spores pale-yellow, usually united in twos or threes. DICTYDIMTIIALWM 215 and ovoid or flattened on one side; when free, globose, very minutely spinulose, 9.5-10.5. Colorado: Dr. Sturgis. 3. Dictydiaethallum Rostafinski 1873. Dictydiaethalium Rost., Versucli, p. 5. 1875. Clai/iroptyc/iium Rost., Mon., p. 224. iEthalium depressed, flat; the sporangia erect, regular, prismatic by mutual pressure, the peridia convex above, v^^anting at the sides and within the aethalium represented by vertical threads marking the angles and passing from base to summit. ■ This genus is readily recognized by the internal structure of the sethalium. The lateral wall-openings, which, as we have seen, char- acterize the sporangia of the preceding genus, here become ex- treme, occupying to such extent the lateral wall-space of each spor- angium that only threads remain to mark the vertical angles. In 1873 Rostafinski applied the generic name here adopted, be- cause he thought he discovered close relationships with Dictydium. In 1875, believing his first impressions erroneous, and desirous that the nomenclature might not at once mislead the student and per- petuate the memory of his own mistake, the same author proposed the name by which the genus has generally ever since been known — Clathroptychium. However sensible the latter conclusion reached by our Polish author, it is plainly contrary to all rules of priority. Our region shows but a single widely distributed species, — 1. DlCTYDI^.THALIUM PLUMBEUM {Schum.) Rost. Plate I., Figs. 2, 2 a, 2 b. 1803. Fuligo plumbea Schum., Enum. Saell., No. 1410. 1833. Licea rugulosa Wall., Cr. Fl. Ger., IV., p. 345 1873. Dictydtaetlialium plumbeum (Schum.) Rost., Versuch, p. 5. 1875. Clathroptychium rugulosum (Wallr.) Rost., Mon., p. 225. 1894. Dictydiaethalium plumbeum Rest., List., Mycetozoa, p. 157. ^thalium thin, very flat, olivaceous or ochraceous, smooth, under the lens punctate, in section showing the columnar or prismatic spo- rangia, which are normally six-sided, having at the edges six simple 216 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS threads, the remains of peridium, extending from base to apex, where the peridium remains intact, arcuate; hypothallus prominent, radiat- ing far around the a^thalium, silvery white ; spores in mass, ochra- ceous, or dull brownish yellow, by transmitted light almost colorless, rough 9-10 fjL. Not rare, on decaying logs, especially of Tilia americana, where in the same place successive fructifications follow each other some- times for weeks together in the latter part of summer and early fall. The jethalium is generally elliptical or elongate, 2-3 cm. in extent, sometimes irregular or branched, varying in color according to degree of maturity, weathering, etc. Plasmodium at first watery, then pink, or flesh-colored. Eastern United States; common. Toronto; — Miss Carrie. E. CRIBRARIACEi^ Sporangia distinct, more or less closely gregarious, stipitate, the peridium opening, especially above, by a well-defined network formed from thickenings in the original sporangial wall. Key to the Genera of the Crihrariaceae A. Peridial thickenings in form of an apical net with definite thickenings at the intersections of the component threads . 1. Cribraria B. Peridial thickenings in form of parallel meridional ribs connected by delicate transverse threads 2. Dictydium Cribraria (Pers) Schroder. 1794. Cribraria Persoon, Romer, A^. Bot. Mag., I., p. 91, in part. 1797. Cribraria Schrader, Nov. Gen. Plant., p. 1, in part. 1875. Cribraria Rostafinski, Mon., p. 229. Sporangia distinct, gregarious or closely crowded, globose or ob- ovoid, stipitate ; the stipe of very varying length ; the peridium simple, marked within by distinct and peculiar, granular, thickenings, which below take the form of radiating ribs, supporting the persisting cup, calyculus, and above, by extremely delicate anastomosing branches, unite to weave a more or less regular net with open polygonal meshes ; spores various, more often yellowish or ochraceous, sometimes brown, reddish, or purple. CRIBRARIA 217 The genus Cribraria, as limited by Persoon, included all forms in which the peridium is thin, evanescent half-way down, or entirely, and in which capillitium, as Persoon regarded the case, is formed of a network of reticulate threads surrounding the spores, Schrader re-defined the genus; opposed Persoon's view as to the capillitial nature of the net, and separated the genus Dictydiurn, but by imper- fect limitations, — in fact, chiefly because of the more completely evanescent peridium. Fries follows Schrader. Rostafinski first clear- ly separated the two genera, and his classification is here adopted. Nevertheless, after reviewing the subject entire one is more and more inclined to appreciate the commendation of Fries; "Auctor Schrader, qui insuper plurimas species detexit, et hoc et sequens genus ita proposuit ut sequentes vix aliquid addere valuerint." As to the habitat of the cribrarias, the remark of Schrader is still pertinent — "in vetustissimis plenarias destructionis proximis arborum truncis" — for all the species. Rotten, coniferous wood seems to be preferred, but the decayed logs of trees of other orders are by no means refused. Rotten oak forms a very common habitat. Key to the Species of Cribraria A. Sporangia with spores ochraceous or brownish. a. Sporangia larger, .5 mm. or more. 1. Net poorly developed, sometimes merely indicated, 1. C. argillacea 2. Net conspicuous, nodes expanded, not swollen. i. Calyculus reticulately thickened, ill-defined above, 2. C. macrocarpa ii. Calyculus with radiant lines or ribs; net small- meshed; free ends none . 6. C. aurantiaca iii. Net wide-meshed, calyx rufous . 4. C. rufa iv. Calyx replaced by ribs . . 5. C. splendens 3. Net conspicuous, nodules swollen. i. Net-threads simple; free ends many 7. C. dictydioides ii. Net-threads often parallel in twos or threes, 8. C. intricata b. Sporangia small, less than .5 mm. 1. Nodes not expanded . . . 3. C. minutissima 2. Nodes well shown. i. Calyculus distinctly marked by radiant lines, nodes round 10. C tenella 218 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS ii. Calyculus minute or none; nodes prominent, 11. C. microcarpa B. Sporangia more or less marked with purple or violet tints. a. Purple or violet throughout. 1. Net poorly developed . . . . 12. C. violacea 2. Net well developed. i. Meshes regular and the nodes distinct, 14. C. elegans ii. Meshes and nodules irregular . 13. C. purpurea h. Purple tints confined chiefly to plasmodic granules on the calcy- ulus and stipe. Net with nodes well expanded. i. Stipe short, not more than double the sporangium; net and calyculus both well developed 9. C. piriformis ii. Stipe many times the sporangium, weak, 15. C. languescens iii. Stipe slender, sporangium copper-colored, 16. C. cuprea 1. Cribraria argillacea Pers. Plate XII., Figs. 12, 13; Plate XVII., Fig. 1. 1791. Stetnonitis argillacea (Pers.) Gmel., Syst. Nat., II., 1469. 1796. Cribraria argillacea Pers., Obs. Myc, I., p. 90. Sporangia dull ochraceous-olivaceous, globose, nearly 1 mm. in diameter, sessile or short stipitate, closely gregarious or crowded, the peridial walls at maturity smooth, shining, except above, long persistent, obscurely reticulate, with irregular thickenings which at the apex at length present the appearance of an irregular, coarsely meshed net without nodal thickenings; stipe very short, stout, erect, reddish brown, spore-mass ochraceous, spores by transmitted light pale, spinulose, 5-6 /t. This species stands just on the border-line between the tubiferas and the genus now before us. While on the one hand it possesses many characters such as the habit, form of sporangium, which are dis- tinctly tubuline, on the other it shows in the upper peridial wall defi- nite reticulations which suggest Cribraria. In freshly formed sporangia the reticulations are barely visible in the crown; later on they are more manifest, until, as spore-dispersal proceeds ; the cribraria char- acters come out with sufficient distinctness, and in empty sporangia the reticulations may be seen to affect the entire peridial wall. The cm BRA RI A 219 nodes are not expanded. The spores are pale by transmitted light, spinulose, about 6 ix. Plasmodium lead-colored. Found sometimes in large patches on rotten logs of various species. Not uncommon, Cf. Lindbladia effusa. New England, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Washington ; Canada. 2. Cribraria macrocarpa Schrader. Plate XVII., Fig. 2. 1797. Cribraria macrocarpa Schrad., Nov. Gen. Plant., p. 8. Sporangia more or less closely gregarious, yellowish brown, pear- shaped or obovate, large, .8-1 mm. in diameter, stipitate ; stipe brown furrowed, erect or often nodding, about equal to the sporangium or longer; calyculus distinct, marked by numerous dark brown radi- ating ribs, iridescent, perforate above, deeply dentate, and merging gradually into the elegant network, of which the dark nodes are more distinctly expanded about half way up, less so at the apex and below, the filaments exceedingly delicate, simple, with occasional free ends projecting into the small meshes; spore-mass yellowish, spores by transmitted light almost colorless, minutely roughened, 5-6 II. Perhaps the most striking characteristic of the present species, aside from its large size, is the peculiarly perforated cup or calyc- ulus. Schrader's artist failed him here completely. The structure is exceedingly delicate, the peridium between the ribs and reticula- tions reduced to the last degree of tenuity, with the iridescence of the soap-bubble, here and there lapsed entirely. Withal the struc- ture seems firm enough and persists until all the spores are dissipated by the wind. Easily distinguished from the preceding, its only rival in size, by the obovate or turbinate, netted sporangium, its much longer stem, and flat, perfectly formed nodes. Rare. New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon ; Toronto, Canada. 220 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS 3. Cribraria iniinutissima Schiveinitz. Plate XVIL, Figs. 6, 6 a. 1832, Cribraria minutissima Schw., N. A. F., No. 2362. Sporangia scattered, orange or nut-brown, very minute, .1-.3 mm. or less, globose or ellipsoidal, stipitate, erect or nodding; hypothallus none; stipe short, 1-3 times the sporangium, filiform, tapering up- ward, brown ; the calyculus variable, sometimes well marked and separated from the net when fully mature, by a shallow constriction, more commonly small or entirely wanting, especially in the spher- ical sporangia; net simple, large meshed, without nodal expansions, the threads flattened; spore-mass yellow, spores by transmitted light, pale, nearly smooth, 5-6 ju. A most beautiful tiny species. Generally in all the specimens before us, a perfect, spherical net, firm enough to retain its place and struc- ture after all the spores have been scattered. When mature the spore-mass seems to roll about as a ball, freely within the net, the spores being thus gradually dispersed. The calyculus when present is without veins. C. minima Berk. & C, and C. microscopica Berk. & C. are doubtless the same thing. Grev., II., p. 67, 1823. See also BoL Gaz., XIX., 397. Rare. Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Missouri, Iowa; Black Hills, South Dakota. 4. Cribraria rufa (Roth) Rost. Plate XIX., Fig. 8. 1788. Stemonitis rufa Roth, Fl. Germ., I., p. 548. 1794. Cribraria rufescens Pers., Roemer, N. Mag. Bot., I., p. 91. 1797. Cribraria fulva Schrad., Nov. Gen. PL, p. 5. Sporangia scattered, subglobose or turbinate, dark or reddish orange, .5-.7 mm. in diameter, erect, stipitate ; stipe about equalling the height of the sporangium or longer, dark brown or black; calyculus one-third to one-half the sporangium, the margin toothed, the wall ribbed and continuous with the open wide-meshed net; the network deep yellow or orange, the threads flattened ; the nodes not thickened, little differentiated ; spores concolorous, by transmitted light, pale yellow, verruculose, 5-7 ju,. CRIBRARIA 221 Similar to the preceding, but generally much larger and not so much inclined to brown. The size, however, is extremely variable in sporangia from the same Plasmodium (reported white), some no larger than those of the species reckoned most minute. Oregon. Professor Morton Peck. 5. Cribraria splendens {Schroder) Rest. Plate XIX., Fig. 10. 1797. Dictydium splendens Schrad., Nov. Gen., p. 14. 1801. Cribraria splendens (Schrad.) Pers., Syn. Fung., p. 191. Sporangia gregarious, globose, dusky yellow when filled with spores, dull or dusky brown when these are discharged, stipitate ; stipe long, 3-4 times the sporangium, subulate, erect-nodding, brown; hypo- thallus none; network brown, with large meshes, imperfectly defined nodes and flattened threads ; calyculus none, its place supplied by nine or ten distinct, firm ribs which radiate from the stipe and support the net, branching to blend with its reticulations; spore-mass yellow, spores by transmitted light, colorless, smooth or nearly so, 6-7.5 fx. Of this species two specimens only are before us, one from Musca- tine County, Iowa, and one from Washington (state). The species seems thus to have wide range, but to be exceedingly rare. It differs from all other American forms, so far described, in the peculiar development of the calyculus. Rostafinski emphasizes the persistence of the peridial wall and the peculiar gleaming of the metallic tints, displayed by all the structures. These particulars we have not been able to verify. Such characters may be incident to age or conditions of development. At all events, in forms which in all other respects seem to agree exactly with Rostafinski's descriptions, the colors are dull and without any noticeable iridescence. The spores in our speci- mens are also a little larger than quoted. Rostafinski gives 5-6 /a; Massee, 5-7 /x. 6. Cribraria aurantiaca Schradcr. , Plate XVII., Fig. 3, and XIX., Fig. 7. 1797. Cribraria aurantiaca Schrad., Nov. Gen. PL, p. 5. Sporangia gregarious, spherical, dusky or yellowish stipitate, nod- 222 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS ding ; the calyculus variable, generally prominent, more or less distinct- ly marked by fine, delicate radiating venules, the margin denticulate, the teeth numerous and slender, supporting the well-defined globose net; network made up of very tenuous threads, forming rather small irregular brownish nodules and showing only here and there a free extremity; stipe generally short, two or three times the diameter of the sporangium, sometimes longer, tapering upward, brown, slender, arcuate above; spore-mass yellow or ochraceous, spores by transmit- ted light, colorless, 5-6 /x, almost smooth. This widely distributed and very variable species is generally recognized by the large sporangia, .5-9 mm., comparatively short stipe, simple net, and more or less orange color. The color is an un- certain thing even in the sporangia, which rise from one Plasmodium. Schrader, however, made this feature so far diagnostic that he placed the more pronouncedly yellow forms in the species C. aurantiaca and set of? as C. vulgaris forms in which more dusky tints prevail. The dark-colored forms have also usually longer stipes, but so much is dependent upon the climatic conditions prevalent at the time of fruit- ing, that this feature also is indeterminate. Rostafinski's figures, 21 and 26, Tab. II., show the characteristic nodules and the typical net structure. It is to be observed that Fig. 21 represents higher mag- nification; otherwise the two figures are very much alike. New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and South, Ohio, Washington, California; Canada, Toronto. 7. Cribraria dictydioides Cke. & Balf.. Plate I., Figs. 5, 5 a, 5 b, and XIX., 6, 6 a, 6 b. 1881. Cribraria dictydioides Cke. & Balf., Rav. Fung. Am., 475. Sporangia gregarious, of medium size, globose, cernuous, stipitate ; the stipe long, slender, tapering upwards, dull brown in color; hypo- thallus none; the calyculus variable, sometimes well developed, as in C. aurantiaca, sometimes rudimentary or represented only by irregu- lar, node-like ribs; the network delicate, the meshes small, few-sided; the nodules large, prominent, brown, irregular, with several radiat- ing, free, projecting threads, beside the single continuous filaments CRIBRARIA 223 which pass from node to node; spore-mass pale, ochraceous; spores nearly smooth, colorless, 5-7 /x. This seems to be the most common Cribraria in the Mississippi valley. It is generally distinguished by the scant calyculus and the beautiful richness of its clear delicate net. The stellate nodules especially above, emit filamental rays in all directions, but are, not- w^ithstanding, united by single, unpaired threads only. The calycu- lus is often entirely absent, and this has been supposed the typical condition; but, on the contrary, there often may present itself a cup as distinct as in C. aurantiaca. See, for this variation, Bot. Gaz. XIX., p. 398. The rather large sporangia, .6-.7 mm., the nodes joined by single threads, the remaining radiant threads, many or few, but very short — these seem to be the most distinctly diagnostic char- acters, and these are sufficiently constant to separate this species easily from C. intricata on the one hand and C. tenella on the other. Mr. Lister considers this merely a form of the next species. Abundant on rotten logs of every sort, especially oak; common on the lower side of rotting pine planks in wooden walks along the streets everywhere. N. A. F., 2095, seems to belong here. Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Ne- braska. 8. Cribraria intricata (Schrad.) Rost. 1797. Cribraria intricata Schrad., Nov. Gen. PL, p. 7. Sporangia gregarious, globose, large, .7-1 mm, in diameter, nut- brown or olivaceous, erect, stipitate; stipe long, slender, purplish brown, flexuous ; calyculus variable, sometimes occupying one-third of the sphere, when it is delicately costate, concolorous with the stipe, and passes over to the net by a distinctly toothed or serrulate margin, sometimes represented by irregular ribs or costa2 only; net well differentiated, the threads delicate, transparent, yellow, connecting large black nodules, running from one to the other in pairs or some- times three together, free ends not numerous, the meshes few-sided, often triangular; spores in mass, dull olivaceous, under the lens pallid, nearly smooth, 6-7 fi. A very rare species, if indeed it occur in this country. At least 224 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS the form figured by Rostafinski, Tab. II., Fig. 27, and Massee, PI. 1, Fig. 11, has not come to our notice. The parallelism of the net threads is a touch added by Rostafinski ; Schrader does not mention it. Lister makes this species include the preceding. The form described in Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. la. XL, p. 119, is C. dictydioides. Reported from New York, New England and Pennsylvania. In the English Monograph we are repeatedly assured that this species is common in the United States. The statement is made possible only by the inclusion of the form originally described from America and truly abundant east of the Rocky Mountains, C. dic- tydioides Cke. & Balf. ; C. intricate, by all accounts, just as pre- eminently the species of Europe. It is true that Schrader did not emphasize the parallel connecting threads by which later authorities distinguish the form; he had little occasion so to do, even did his figures intend accuracy in each detail, which they did not, and Rosta- finski's, though his drawing is a diagram, certainly knew what he was doing. Cooke, in his list for Great Britain, quotes the Polish text without dissent, and Massee follows and illustrates; so that there can be no doubt as to what the European species is. In any cribraria the presence or relative obsolesence, of the calyc- ulus is of little taxonomic import since that structure is variable in every species. In the latest edition of Mr. Lister's work, the American form is entered as a variety in "hot-houses"; apparently adventitious; it is indeed related to the European form but is a geo- graphic species. 9. Cribraria piriformis Schrader. Plate XVII., Fig. 9 ; Plate XIX., Fig. 9. 1797. Cribraria piriformis Schrad., Nov. Gen. PL, p. 4. Sporangia gregarious, small, .3-.5 mm., turbinate or globose, erect, purplish brown, stipitate ; stipe comparatively short, tapering upward, longitudinally furrowed, purple or brown ; calyculus very well de- fined, about one-third the sporangium, not ribbed, flattened or even umbilicate below, the margin plainly denticulate, dusky brown; the net simple, the meshes large, triangular, with few free ends; the CRIBRARIA 225 nodules small, globose or undifferentiated, slightly convex or flat; spore mass dull, yellowish brown; spores by transmitted light pale ochraceous or salmon-tinted, nearly smooth, 5-6 fx. Schrader defined this beautiful form chiefly by its shape. This, though variable, is j'et generally so far pyriform as to show distinct contraction toward the stipe. The well-defined calyculus is narrow- ed below and eroded or denticulate above. The cyanic tints due to the presence on the calyculus of radiating lines of purplish granules about one-half the size of the spores, the net open, uniform, the stipe rather stout, short, and distinctly furrowed, rising often from a small hypothallus — these are marks of this species. The net suggests C. tcnella, but the latter species is much smaller, has a different stem, much longer and unfurrowed. The cup here is more nearly that of some form of C. intricata, but is better defined, passing into the net very abruptly by the simple intervention of projecting teeth. Apparently rare. Our specimens are from New York, through the courtesy of Dr. Rex, Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa, Oregon, Colorado, and represent, as usual a modification of the European type, C. notabilis Rex. Miss Lister, Mon., 2nd ed., writes var. notabilis. Colorado forms are remarkable for dense brown coloration. 10. Cribraria tenella Schrader. Plate XVII., Fig. 5. 1797. Cribraria tenella Schrad., Nov. Gen. PL, p. 6. Sporangia gregarious, small, .3-.5 mm. in diameter or smaller, olivaceous or ochraceous, long-stipitate, nodding; stipe slender, dark brown or blackish, very long, reaching 6 mm., weak and flexuous; calyculus variable, sometimes well defined, brown, costate, sometimes represented by the costae only connected by a thin, transparent mem- brane ; net well differentiated, the meshes small, irregular, the nodes small, black, more or less globular, prominent, connected by trans- parent threads with occasional or a few free ends; spores in mass, olivaceous-ochraceous, under the lens pallid, globose, smooth, 5-7 fi. Very common eastward and south, on the weathered surface of rotten wood. Generally easily recognized by its very long stipe, 16 226 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS small, globose sporangium dotted with numerous small roundish nodules projecting plainly above the general surface. The obconic calyculus is always represented in the outline if not in definite struc- ture. New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Canada; Toronto, — Miss Currie. 11. Cribraria microCARPA (Schrad.) Persoon. Plate XVII., Fig. 4. 1797. Dictydium microcarpum Schrad., Nov. Gen. PL, p. 13. 1801. Cribraria microcarpa Schrad., Pers., Syn., p. 190. 1875. Cribraria microcarpa (Schrad.) Rost., Mon., p. 235. 1892. Cribraria microcarpa Schrad., Massee, Mon., p. 63. 1893. Cribraria microcarpa Schrad., Morg., Myx. Mi. Vail., p. 15. 1899. Cribraria microcarpa Schrad., Macbr., N. A. S., p. 168. 1911. Cribraria microcarpa Pers., Lister, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 183 (?). Sporangia loosely gregarious, very small, .2-.3 mm. in diameter, yellow ochraceous, stipitate, nodding; stipe comparatively stout, dark brown or blackish, tapering upward, often twisted at the apex as in D. cancellatum; calyculus none, represented by simple ribs which give off at intervals free or floating branchlets before blending into the common net; net well developed, the meshes large, the nodes small, irregular, though often rounded and prominent, black, con- nected by delicate transparent threads, with free ends few or none; spore-mass yellow, fading to ochraceous ; spores pale, smooth, globose, 6-7 II. This species resembles at first sight the preceding, and has been often mistaken for it. As a matter of fact, the distinctions are gener- ally very sharp. In the first place, the sporangia, when carefully measured, are seen to be not more than half as great in diameter; the meshes of the net, on the other hand, are much wider, the whole structure more compact. The nodules are like those of tenella, but are much fewer. The stipe is shorter, the cup wanting, and the costae are few and simple. The color suggests C. aurantiaca. The habitat and distribution as C. tenella. To anyone who will read the account of the species as given by the English Mon., 2nd ed., p. 183, it is immediately apparent that CRIBRARIA 227 the author has in mind a different form from that seen and described in our territory and previously noted by the authors of Europe, These from Schrader down, agree in portraying a brunescent form with yellow spores; Mr. Lister enters it with the cyanic series and so describes and figures it throughout. Schrader figures a nut-brown species; Rostafinski uses that descriptive term in connection with the general appearance when fresh, but gives the spore-mass yellow; only in the stipe does he find another tint, nut-brown-purple. The figure, 145 in the Monograph now before us portrays, except in color, our C tenella exactly. Dr. Rex, Bot. Gaz., XIX., 398, compares the present species with C. minutissima, and C. tenella with C. dictydioides; which is correct for the American presentation of the species named. C. dictydioides is certainly our presentation of C. intricata, a geographic species at the least ; but if C. microcarpa is purple we have of it no representation ; our forms under that name are closely related to C tenella, a yellow-spored species, and might perhaps be there referred ; have, however, somewhat larger spores. 12. Cribraria violacea Rex. Plate XVII., Fig. 8. 1891. Cribraria violacea Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 393. Sporangia scattered or gregarious, very small, .2 mm. in diameter, violet tinted, erect, stipitate short, about one-half the total height, concolorous, slender, tapering upward ; calyculus crateriform, per- sistent, or marked with minute plasmodic granules; the net rudi- mentary or poorly developed, the meshes large, irregular, the nodules also large triangular, violaceous ; spores pale violet in mass, by trans- mitted light reddish, 7-8 fx, minutely warted. A very minute but well-marked species discovered by Dr. Rex in Wissahickon Park, near Philadelphia, otherwise very rare. Lister, however, reports it from England. In minuteness to be compared with C. minutissima, from which its color instantly distinguishes it. Dr. Rex reports the Plasmodium as "violet black." All our specimens are on very rotten wood, basswood, Tilia americana. Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa. 228 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS 13. Cribraria purpurea Schrad. 1797. Cribraria purpurea Schrad., Nov. Gen. PL, p. 8. Sporangia gregarious, large, 1 mm. in diameter, dark purple, erect, stipitate, depressed-globose; stipe concolorous, furrowed, about twice the diameter of the sporangium in length, with a distinct hypothallus ; calyculus persistent, less than half the sporangium, obscurely ribbed, marked by concentric plications, the margin toothed ; the net poorly differentiated, the meshes irregular in form and size, as are also the flat, unthickened nodes, the threads pale, free ends short and not numerous; spore-mass purple; spores by transmitted light, pale or colorless, 5-6, /x, smooth. Rare. Found on rotten coniferous wood in deep forests. Easily recognized by its large size and uniform purple color. To the next species it offers a general resemblance, but has larger sporangia and an entirely different net. The Plasmodium just before the formation of the fruit is scarlet. ' I Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Ontario, Oregon, Colorado. 14. Cribraria elegans Berk. & C. 1873. Cribraria elegans Berk. & Curt., Grev., II., p. 67. Sporangia gregarious, erect or nodding, small, .4— .5 mm., bright purple, stipitate; stipe long, slender, tapering upward, almost black, arising from a scanty hypothallus; calyculus about half the sporan- gium, finely ribbed, covered especially above with small purple gran- ules, the margin toothed or perforate ; net well developed, the meshes small, polygonal, the threads delicate, colorless, with many free ends, the nodules dark-colored, numerous and somewhat prominent; spore- mass pale purple; spores by transmitted light pale violaceous, smooth, 6-6.5 II. To be compared with the preceding. The small-meshed net with well-defined, dark-colored nodules is distinctive, aside from the fact of the much smaller sporangia. The stipe is also different, more slender, smooth, and dark-colored. The habitat of the two species appears to be the same. The present species is much more common, ranges farther west, and is to be looked for on the Pacific coast. CRIBRARIA 229 New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Missouri, Iowa; Black Hills, South Dakota. 15. Cribraria languescens Rex. 1891. Cribraria languescens Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 394. Sporangia scattered, very minute, .25-35 mm., spherical, long- stipitate, drooping; stipe 2.5-3 mm., slender, flexuous, subulate, rugu- lose ; calyculus about one-third the sporangium, reddish brown, shin- ing, minutely striate with granular lines, the margin more or less regularly serrate; net reddish brown, the meshes triangular and the threads simple, the nodes large, polygonal, flat, but well differen- tiated ; the spores when fresh dull red in mass, paling with age ; by transmitted light colorless, 6 /x, smooth. A very singular species, easily recognizable by its long, slender stipes, terminating in exceedingly small spherical sporangia. The colors are obscure, but the striations on the calyculus are violet- tinted, and the reds perhaps predominate elsewhere. "In its scattered and solitary growth, its tall, slender stipes, and relaxed habit it re- sembles C. microcarpa, in its network it approaches C. tenella, and its spores have the color of the paler form of C. purpurea." So Dr. Rex, /. c. Western forms of the first-named species have much shorter stipes; the network in the specimens before us is unlike that of C. tenella, but resembles that of C. purpurea. Rare, on very rotten wood, in the forest. New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Ontario. 16. Cribraria cuprea Morgan. Plate XVII., Fig. 7. 1893. Cribraria cuprea Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc, p. 16. Sporangium very small, .33 mm., oval or somewhat obvoid, copper- colored, stipitate, nodding; stipe concolorous or darker below, subu- late, curved at the apex, 2-4 times the sporangium; calyculus about one-half the sporangium, finely ribbed and granulose within, the margin nearly even ; the net rather rudimentary, the meshes large, triangular or quadrilateral, the nodules also large, flat, concolorous, the threads slender, transparent, with free ends few; spores in mass copper-colored, by transmitted light colorless, smooth, 6-7 /*. 230 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS Recognizable by its small size and peculiar color, that of bright copper, although this fades somewhat with age, and the metallic tints are then lacking. Related to the preceding and in specimens having globular sporangia closely resembling it ; but the ground color in C. languescens is always darker, and the stipe proportionally much longer. In habit the sporangia are widely scattered, much more than is common in the species of this genus. Miss Lister, 2nd ed. regards this as a var. of No. 15. Comparatively rare. Before us is one very small colony of sporan- gia from Iowa, one from Ohio, and a large number from Missouri. If one may judge from the material at hand, the favorite habitat is very rotten basswood, Tilia americana. 2. Dictydium (Schrad.) Rost. Sporangia distinct, gregarious, globose or depressed-globose, stipi- tate, cernuous; the peridium very delicate, evanescent, thickened on the inside by numerous meridional costae which are joined at fre- quent intervals by fine transverse threads more or less parallel to each other, forming a persistent network of rectangular meshes. The ribs or costae of the spore-case radiate from the top of the stipe and unite again at the top of the sporangium in a feeble, irregular net. Schrader, Nov. Gen. PL, p. 11, 1797, applied the name Dic- tydium to all Cribraria-like species in which the calyculus was want- ing. Fries follows this, Syst, Myc, III., p. 164. Rostafinski, Ver- suchj p. 5, Mon., p. 229, first correctly limits the genus and sepa- rates it from Cribraria. 1873-75. A single species is ^videly distributed throughout the world, — 1. Dictydium cancellatum {Batsch) Macbr. Plate I., Figs. 6, 6 a and Plate XIX., Figs. \, \a, \h, \ c, 2, 3. 1789. Mucor cancellatus Batsch, Elench. Fung., II., p. 131. 1797. Dictydium umhilicatum Schrad., Nov. Gen. PL, p. 11, 1801. Cribraria cernua Pers., Syn., p. 189. 1816. Dictydium cernuum Nees, Syst. d. Pilz., p. 117. 1875. Dictydium cernuum (Pers.) Rost., Mon., p. 229. 1893. Dictydium longipes Morg., Cin. Soc. Jour., p. 17, in part. Sporangia gregarious, depressed globose, nodding, the apex at DICTYDJUM 231 length umbilicate, stipitate, in color brown, or brownish purple; the stipe varying much in length from two to ten times the diameter of the sporangium, attaining 5-6 mm., generally erect, more or less twisted and pallid at the apex, below dark brown, with hypothallus small or none; calyculus often wanting, when present a mere film connecting the ribs of the net ; the net made up chiefly of meridional ribs connected at intervals by transverse parallel threads, above an open Cribraria-Uke network closing the apex and more or less rudi- mentary ; the spores varying in color through all shades of brown and purple when seen in mass, by transmitted light reddish, 5-7 fi, smooth or nearly so. This species in the United States is one of the most variable in the whole group. The extremes of such variation might easily con- stitute types for several distinct species were it not that in all direc- tions the varieties shade into each other so completely as to defy definition. We have before us specimens purple throughout and short- stemmed ; purple with stem long, pale and twisted at apex ; brown, with the same variations; short-stemmed, with the apex of the stem pallid, and long-stemmed, with and without the same peculiarity. Morgan (Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist. Jour., 1893) would set ofif the purple, long-stemmed forms as D. longipes, "stipe three to five times the sporangium," but here are forms in which the stem is ten times the diameter of the sporangium, which yet possess in all other particulars the characters of the short-stemmed forms. European forms also vary. Massee figures one type ; Lister, one or two others ; Rostafinski's figure indicates a taller form; Fries says, "Stipes elongatus, peridio quinquies et ultra longior." It seems reasonable to suppose that the variation is largely due to atmospheric conditions at the time of fruiting. The purple forms may be cases of arrested development, since the plasmodium appears to be in all cases purple, or at least they seem to represent those plasmodia which have failed of normal ripening. We may recognize two or three general types, distingin'shed primarily by color: — a. D. cancellatum cancellatum. — Sporangia clear brown or with only a purplish tinge, the stipe tapering upward, and in ex- treme cases perfectly white at the twisted apex. The stipe in length ranges from three to ten times the diameter of the sporangium. The 232 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS reticulations of the net are generally small and the ribs numerous. This is the most highly differentiated, finished type of the species. b. D. cancellatum purpureum. — Sporangium dark, the purple tints predominating, the stipe tapering upward, more or less twisted at the paler, sometimes almost colorless, apex. The stipe ranges a little shorter than in the preceding variety, three to seven times the sporangium. The reticulations of the net are often coarse, the ribs being fewer ; the whole structure weak and showing signs of im- perfect development. The figures, \, \ a, \ b, \ c, I. c, illustrate the ideal accomplish- ment in form (a). The color is a clear definite brown with no sug- gestion of purple any^vhere. The stipes are three or four times the diameter of the sporangium, brown below, white above, and twisted to allow the sporangium to hang inverted. This is complete in every part; a definite bell-shaped calyx, widening into the cancellate re- ceptacle, the margin constricted, and closed at last by the apical net, cribrum, sign of the order. In form (b), the structure is similar but by no means so sym- metrical and complete. The calyx often fails, or is present by ob- scure indications only. The cancellation is coarser, the number of ribs fewer, the whole sporangmm more or less globose ; ferruginous or purple, the prevailing tint. Figs, on PI. I. are from the ferru- ginous type. Figure 3 represents a beautiful thing; cup-less, ellipsoidal, delicate, of average size and in every way well-proportioned, clear rosy brown in color. This may stand for a third variety; (c) D. cancellatum prolatum. Common everywhere. The fruit appears in June on decaying logs and stumps of various species of deciduous trees, conifers, etc., the finest, and greatest variety, are from southern Missouri. Order IV LYCOGALALES Fructification aethalioid ; peridium membranaceous, tough, simple, without vesiculose with protoplasmic masses, within gelatinous; the LYCOGALALES 233 capillitium of cortical origin, consisting of irregular lobate or branch- ing tubules, varying much in width, and marked by numerous cor- rugations, irregular warts or bands; spores minute, ashen or pallid. This order includes but a single genus, — Lycogala Micheh. 1729. Lycogala Micheli, Nov. Plant. Gen., pp. 216, 217. 1753. Lycoperdon Linn. Syst. Nat., in part. 1794. Lycogala Persoon, Romer, N. Bat. Mag., p. 87. Micheli's description and figures, Nov. Plant. Gen., pp. 216, 217, Tab. 95, leave no doubt but that this illustrious man had species of Lycogala before him when he described the genus. His figure 1, no doubt portrays the second species in our present list. More recent writers, from Persoon down, have used Micheli's designa- tion, but differed in regard to the limits to which the name should be applied. It is here used substantially as in 1729. Fries and, after him, Rostafinski make a mistake in quoting Retzius as writing Lycogala (1769). Retzius wrote Lycoperdon sessile; Kongl. Veten- skaps Acad. Handling, for Ar 1769, p. 254. Key to the Species of Lycogala A. iEthalia irregularly globose. a. Cortex minutely roughened or warted ; about 12 mm. in diameter 1. L. epidendrum b. Cortex smooth, size large . . . . 2. L. flavo-fuscum c. Cortex rough ; diameter 6 mm. or less . . 3. L. exiguum B. ^thalia conical 4. L. conicum 1. Lycogala epidendrum (Buxb.) Fries. 1721. Lycoperdon epidendron, etc., Buxb., En. PI. Hal, p. 203. 1753. Lycoperdon epidendrum Linn., Sp. PL, p. 1184. 1829. Lycogala epidendrum (Buxb.) Fries, Syst. Myc. IIL, p. 80. ^thalia solitary or clustered, depressed spherical, or, when crowd- ed, irregular, olivaceous or blackish, minutely warted, 3-10 mm. in diameter, dehiscing irregularly, but more often near the apex ; perid- ium thin, but tough and persistent, made up of numerous agglutin- ated tubules enclosing in their meshes peculiar cell-like vesicles; cap- illitium parietal, consisting of long, branching, and anastomosing 234 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS flattened tubules extended inwardly among the spores, everywhere marked by transverse wrinkles, ridges, and warts, the free ends of the ultimate branchlets rounded, concolorous with the spores; spore- mass, when fresh, rosy, or ashen with a rosaceous or purplish tinge, becoming with age sordid or ochraceous, spores by transmitted light colorless, minutely roughened or reticulate, 5-6 p.. This is not only a cosmopolitan species, but is no doubt the most common slime-mould in the world. Found everywhere on decaying wood of all sorts, more particularly on that of deciduous trees. It has likewise been long the subject of observation. It is doubtless the "Fungus coccineus" of Ray, 1690, and the type of Micheli's genus as here, 1729. The diflferent colors assumed, from the rich scarlet of the emerging Plasmodium to the glistening bronze of the newly formed aethalium, have suggested various descriptive names, — as L. miniata Pers,, L. chalyheum of Batsch, and L. plumbea Schum, The peridium is by authors described as double. This is for description only. In structure the outer and inner peridium completely blend. The outer is predominately vesiculose, the inner more gelatinous. For discussion of the microscopic structure see under the next species. Common. New England, west to Nebraska, South Dakota, Col- orado, Washington, Oregon, California; Alberta to Nicaragua. Lycogala terrestre Fr,, Syst. Myc, III., 83, appears to be a variety of the present species. In spores and capillitial thread the forms are indistinguishable ; the difference is a matter of size, and to some extent, of the color of the wall. The specimens are a little larger, depressed and angular. The peridium is paler, smoother, though sometimes almost black, thin, ruptured irregularly. But the form and color of the peridium in the sporocarps of the older species vary much in response to external conditions ; on a substratum allfording scant nutrition the forms of fructification are minute; and in all cases, if maturity be hastened, the peridium responds in darker colors. Under more favorable conditions the wall is smoother and brighter. 2. Lycogala flavo-fuscum (Ehr.) Rost. 1818, Diphtherium flavo-fuscum Ehr., Syl. Myc. Berol, p. 27. 1829, Reticularia flavo-fusca (Ehr,) Fries, Syst. Myc, III,, p, 88, 1873. Lycogala flavo-fuscum (Ehr.) Rost., Versuch, p. 3. LYCOGALALES 235 i^thalia solitary or sometimes two or three together, large 2-4 cm. in diameter, spherical or spheroidal, purplish-gray or brown, smooth, shining ; the peridium thick, simple but in microscopic section showing two or three successive layers; capillitium of abundantly branching, irregular, transparent tubules, marked by numberless warts and transverse rings or wrinkles, spores in mass yellowish gray, by trans- mitted light, colorless, smooth or only faintly reticulate or rough- ened, 5-6 yu.. This, one of the largest and most striking of the slime-moulds, is by students generally mistaken for a puff-ball. It occurs on stumps and rotten logs of various sorts in the Mississippi valley, more often affecting stumps of Acer saccharinum L. The fructification, when solitary, about the size of a walnut, though sometimes larger; when clustered, the individuals arc smaller. The form depends largely upon the place in which the fruit is formed. The plasmodic mass is so large that its form is determined by gravity. Thus on the lower surface of a log raised a little distance from the earth the asthalium is often pyriform. This fact did not escape Micheli. See Nov. Plant. Gen., Tab. 95. The Plasmodium is pale pink, soon becomes buff when exposed in fruiting, finally pallid or somewhat livid, and is out- wardly changed into the stout, tough peridium. This consists of an intricate network of irregular gelatinous tubules enclosing within the meshes protoplasmic masses of pretty uniform size, 60—100 ju,. Outwardly the protoplasmic vesicles predominate; inwardly the gela- tinous tubules, which arc, in some instances at least, continued to- ward the centre of fructification to form the capillitium. The protoplasmic masses referred to respond to ordinary stains, are often broken into numberless small cells corresponding in size and appear- ance to ordinary spores. Not common. New England, Ohio, Iowa. Perhaps more abun- dant in the Mississippi valley; Canada. 3. Lycogala exiguum Morg. 1893. Lycogala exiguum Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc, p. 8. y^thalia small, 2-5 mm. in diameter, gregarious, globose, dark brown or black, sessile, minutely scaly, irregularly dehiscent; the 236 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS peridium thin, the vesicles comparatively few, in irregular patches which are more or less confluent ; capillitium as in preceding species, the tubules slender and branching ; spore-mass pale, ochraceous, spores by transmitted light colorless, almost smooth, 5-6 fi. Found in the same situations as No. 1, and at the same season. Recognizable by its gregarious habit, not crowded nor superimposed, small size, and dusky color. The little spheres occur a dozen or more in a place, dark lead-colored, shading to black, opening rather regularly at the top. It looks like a depauperate L. epidendrum, but seems to be constantly collected. Our specimens are from Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, Canada. 4. Lycogala conicum Pers. 1801. Lycogala conica Pers., Syn. Fung., p. 159. 1875. Dermodium conicum (Pers.) Rost., Man., p. 284. i^thalia scattered, sometimes two or three together, small 2-4, mm. high, conical, sessile, pallid, grayish brown, marked by obscure black reticulations, opening regularly at the somewhat acuminate tip ; perid- ium thin in structure, as in L. epidendrum, but more delicate ; cap- illitium made up of abundant, slender, uniform threads almost smooth, simple, the free ends obtuse, taking origin in the cortex much as in the preceding species; spores in mass ochraceous, by transmitted light colorless, minutely warted or faintly reticulate, about 5 /x. A very distinct and rare little species. Well described by Persoon, who also appears to have observed the Plasmodium "primo rubra." The color of the mature form varies with age; at first somewhat purplish. Dr. Rex collected it in Pennsylvania; Mr. Morgan has it from Ohio; our specimens are from southeastern Missouri. Order V TRICHIALES Fructification sporangial, rarely plasmodiocarpous, the sporangia stalked or sessile, gregarious or closely crowded, limeless throughout; the capillitium of definite threads, free or attached to the sporan- gial wall, isolated or combined into a net; spores generally some shade of yellow, never purple or black. T RICH I ALES 237 The distinguishing feature in this order is found in the peculiar sculpture of the capillitial threads. This is suggested by the tubules of Lycogala, though probably the resemblance is superficial only. The individual threads, as in Trichia, are called elaters, from their probable efficiency in spore-dispersal. As here limited, the order is coextensive with the Calonemeae of Rostafinski, except that that includes in addition the genera Proto- trichin and Dianema. The course of differentiation may be assumed to start with Dianema, through the Perichaeiinceae to the Arcyriaceae and again from the same starting-point through Prototrichia to the T r ic Iliac ae. Key to the Families of the Trichiales A. Capillitial threads transverse to the sporangial cavity, attached usually at each end, plain or only slightly roughened . . Dianemaceae B. Capillitium plain, papillose, or spinulose, often scanty, not netted, the threads sometimes attached by one end to the sporangium wall, Perichaenaceae C. Capillitium a distinct net, usually attached below to the sporangial wall ; sculpture various, not continuous spiral bands Arcyriaceae D. Capillitial threads transverse, fascicled, attached at both ends, but sculptured by well defined spiral bands . . Prototrichiaceae E. Capillitial threads typically free, sometimes more or less branched, forming a loose net attached below, characterized by definite spiral bands, or sometimes by scattered rings . . Trichiaceae A. DIANEMACEyE Key to the Genera of the Dianemaceae A. Capillitial threads attached at one end, or free . 1. Margarita B. Capillitial threads attached at each end ... 2. Dianema 1. Margarita List. 1894. Margarita Lister, Mycet., p. 203. Sporangia sessile, the capillitium simple, hair-like, coiled. 1. Margarita metallica {Berk. & Br.) List. Plate XVII., Figs. 1838. Physarum metalHcum Berk. & Br., Mag. Zool. & Bot., I., p, 49. Sporangia scattered or clustered, globose, or somewhat plasmodio- carpous, .5-1 mm., sessile, coppery iridescent, the peridium thin, open- 238 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS ing above irregularly; capillitium of long flexuous, coiling, simple or little dividing threads, nearly smooth, with infrequent attachments to the peridial wall ; spores in mass yellowish, transparent under the lens, delicately verruculose, 10-12 /x. One of the handsomer species of the present group. So far a Pacific coast form. California, Oregon, Washington ; reported from Chile. Dianema Rex 1891. Dianema harveyi Rex, Proc. P/iil. Acad., p. 397. Sporangia simple or plasmodiocarpous; capillitium composed of threads without characteristic thickenings running entirely across the sporangium attached both to the base and to the opposite wall, not joined to form a network. Key to Species of Dianema A. Sporangia distinct, iridescent I. D. harveyi B. Fructification more or less plasmodiocarpous, dull brown 2. D. corticatum C. Sporangia, some of them stipitate . . . 3. D. andersoni 1. Dianema harveyi Rex. Plate XVI., Figs. 5 and 5 b. 1891. Dianema harveyi Rex, Proc. PhiL Acad., p. 397. Sporangia gregarious, generally rounded or cushion-shaped, de- pressed, sessile, iridescent bronze, 1 mm. in diameter; peridium thin, translucent, opening irregularly; capillitium of simple threads, not netted, but often forked two or three times, taut, running from base to top; spores yellow, by transmitted light pale yellowish, minutely roughened, 8-10 p.. This interesting species was collected in Orono, Maine, in 1889, by Professor F. L. Harvey, and so far as can be learned has not been taken since. Mr. Lister records two species from England which he refers to this genus. As to its systematic place, Dr. Rex says, /. c. "It stands as a single representative of a new and separate family adjoining the Perichaenacae in the order Calonemeae of Rosta- finski." Rare. Maine. DIANEMA 239 2. DiANEMA CORTICATUM List. Plate XVI., Figs. S a, S c. 1894. Dianema corticatum List., Mycetozoa, p. 205. "Plasmodium pink"; sporangia sometimes flat-hemispheric, more often ill-defined, united in irregular, depressed, netted plasmodio- carps, generally dull brown ; peridium opaque, didermatous, capilli- tium of simple or rarely branching filaments, variously beaded or marked with spiral bands, lightly attached at either end, occasionally twisted together; spore-mass dull brown, the spores in clusters of four or more, colorless by transmitted light, more or less verruculose, ellipsoidal, about 8-10 /m. Our specimens are from the mountains of Alberta. A curious, flat plasmodiocarp, an inch or more in length. It sug- gests Hemitrichia serpula prematurely dry. 3. Dianema andersoni, Morg. Dianema andersoni, Morg. MS., non. pub. Sporangium globose, sessile or substipitate, seated on a thin brown- ish hypothallus ; the wall a thin smooth pinkish membrane, when dry rugulose and iridescent, the inner surface somewhat thickened below and brownish at the base. Capillitium arising out of the thickened base, the threads hyaline or pinkish, ascending, flexuous, simple, or branched a time or two, the extremities attached on all sides to the wall of the sporangium. Spores globose, very minutely warted, pale, pinkish, 10-11 yu, in diameter, free. Growing on old wood and bark of Alnus; British Columbia, W. B. Anderson. Sporangium spherical, 6-8 mm. in diameter, sessile or on a very short stipe. This species differs from D. harveyi Rex in the uniform pinkish color of the wall and of the spores; the dividing threads are furnished remotely with minute roundish tubercles as in Didy- mium; the spores are somewhat larger than in D. harveyi. B. PERICHi^NACE.^ Key to the Genera of the Perichsenaceaa A. Sporangia more or less plasmodiocarpous in type, terete; dehiscence irregular 1. Ophiotheca 240 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS B. Sporangia more or less polygonal in outline, or round, depressed ; dehis- cence circumscissile 2. Perich^ena 1. Ophiotheca Currey. 1869. Ophiotheca pallida Berk. & C, Jour. Linn. Soc, X., p. 350. Fructification generally plasmodiocarpous, terete, bent or flexuous, often annular or cornuate, rarely globose, opening irregularly, perid- ium thin, not polished, covered more or less strongly with a distinct layer of scales or granules; capillitium of slender, loosely branching filaments, the surface rough to strongly spinulose; spores yellow. As a generic name Ophiotheca plainly has priority. Cornuvia as understood by Rostafin^ki has no representative so far in our region. Key to the Species of Ophiotheca A. Plasmodiocarp usually upon herbaceous stems, slender, 1. O. vermicularis B. Plasmodiocarp on rotting bark, logs, etc, a. Pale brownish or yellowish . . . , 2. O. chrysosperma b. Chestnut brown or blackish 3. O. lurightii 1. Ophiotheca vermicularis (Schw.) Macbr. 1834. Physarum vermicularis Schw., N. A. F., No. 2296. 1869. Ophiotheca pallida Berk, & C, Jour. Lin. Soc, X., p. 350. 1873. Ophiotheca umbrina Berk. & C. Grev., II., p. 88. 1876. Perichaena pallida (Schw.) Rost., Mon. A pp., p. 34. Plasmodiocarp very slender, terete, elongate, flexuous or reticu- late, annular, etc., of dull gray or neutral tint; the peridium thin, translucent, but with a delicate granular outer coating; capilli- tium of slender threads, frequently branched, warted and usually minutely spinulose ; spore-mass ochraceous yellow ; spores by transmit- ted light pale yellow, minutely roughened, 10 [x. Perhaps common, but seldom collected, probably overlooked on ac- count of protective coloration ; the color is about that of the habitat, the weathered surface of dead herbaceous stems and roots. On dead corn stalks not infrequent. Differs from other species of the genus in hav- ing smoother capillitium, for which reason Rostafinski calls the present species Perichaena vermicularis. O. pallida Berk. & C. seems to us to be the same thing, N. A. F., 726. New England, New Jersey, South Carolina, Ontario, Ohio, Iowa. OPHIOTHECA 241 2. Ophiotheca chrysoperma Currey. 1854. ophiotheca chrysosperma Currey, Quart. Mic. Jour., II., p. 240. 1875. Cornwuia circumscissa (Wallr.) Rost., Man., p. 290. 1911. Perichaena chrysosperma Lister, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., in part, p. 248. Plasmodiocarp elongate, bent and curved in various ways, spheri- cal, more rarely annular or even reticulate, yellowish or ochraceous brown, opening irregularly; peridium thin, with yellowish outer layer; capillitium rather abundant, of threads slender, sparingly branched and minutely but distinctly spinulose; spore-mass yellow, spores by transmitted light pale, almost smooth, about 8 fi. Occurs on the inner bark of deciduous trees, especially of oak. Not common. This is possibly Cornuvia circumscissa {Wallr.) of Rostafinski's monograph; but it is doubtful to what Wallroth referred. Rosta- finski's other citations are equally uncertain. Currey's figures and description alone merit recognition. Ohio, Iowa, Tennessee ; Canada. 3. Ophiotheca wrightii Berk. Plate II., Figs. 1,1 a, 1 b. 1868. Ophiotheca nvrightii Berk, & C, Jour. Linn. Soc, X., p. 349. 1876. Cornuvia ivriffhtii (Berk. & C.) Rost., Afon. A pp., p. 36. 1892. Cornuvia ivriffhtii (Berk, & C.) Macbr., Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. la., II., p. 122. 1911. Perichaena chrysosperma Lister, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p, 248, Plasmodiocarp bent or short-flexuous, often arcuate or completely annular, dark chestnut brown or black, opening irregularly; peridium thin, brittle, translucent, covered without by a rather dense layer of brownish or black brown scales ; capillitium of long, sparingly branch- ed threads furnished with projecting spinules remarkable for their length, about twice the diameter of the thread ; spores yellow, minutely but distinctly warted, about \2 jx. This is the common species everywhere on the inner side of the bark of fallen trees, Ulmus, etc. It is readily distinguished at sight by the peculiar annular, looped, and U-shaped plasmodiocarps, with their dark umbrine or blackened surface. From the preceding it 17 242 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS is especially distinguished by the spinulose capillitium and larger spores. Not rare. New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio. 2. Perichaena Fries 1817. Perichaena Fries, Symb. Cast., p. 11. Sporangia flattened, sometimes small and roundish, more often larger, polygonal by mutual interference, or irregular, the peridium thickened outwardly by a dense reddish or brownish layer of scales; dehiscing by circumscission or by a lid; capillitium often scant, of slender, warted, yellowish threads, attached betimes to the upper wall ; spores yellow, oval or spherical. Key to the Species of Perlchsena A. Sporangia plainly flattened. a. Very flat, sporangia 1mm. or more in width . 1. P. depressa b. Depressed; sporangia smaller . . . . 2. P. quadrata B, Sporangia more or less spherical a. Chestnut brown 3. P. corticalis b. Gray or canescent ...... 4. P. marginata 1. Perichaena depressa Libert. Plate XVII., Fig. 10. 1837. Perichaena depressa Lib., Fl. Crypt. Ard., IV., No., 378. Sporangia sessile, applanate, crowded, polj^gonal by mutual con- tact, fuscous or chestnut brown, shining, opening by a definite lid ; spore-mass and capillitium yellow, the capillitium well developed, of slender yellow threads of various widths, almost smooth ; spores minutely warted, 10-12 /x. Easily recognized by the peculiar, polygonal, depressed-flattened sporangia and consequent shallow spore-cases in which lie the yellow spores and scanty capillitium. Rostafinski refers here .P. vaporaria Schw., No. 2311, but the meagre description seems rather to apply to the next species. The original material is no longer accessible. In the crevices and or. the inside of bark of fallen logs of various sorts, walnut, maple, etc. Not commonly collected. Specimens are before us from New PERICH^NA 243 England, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Florida, Mexico, Nicaragua. Probably over the whole wooded region of the continent. 2. Perichaena quadrata Macbr. 1893. Perichaena irregularis Berk. & C, Morgan, Jour. Cin. Soc, p. 20. Sporangia very small, less than % mm., crowded, polygonal or quadrangular, depressed, but not flattened, smooth, bright rufous or brown; the peridium rather thick, yellow within, the dehiscence circumscissile ; capillitium scanty, of slender, sparingly branched fila- ments, the surface minutely roughened, warted or spinulose ; spore- mass yellow; by transmitted light pale yellow, 9-11 /m. Differs from the preceding by the much smaller size of the sporan- gia, different color and habit. The sporangia, while depressed, still maintain considerable rotundity; they are occasionally quite spherical, and then of very uneven size, hardly in contact. In some cases the Plasmodium before maturing seems to assume the form of a plasmodiocarp, which, by transverse fission at intervals, forms the curious four-sided conceptacles. At other times the Plasmodium as- sumes the shape of a flat cushion or plate, which then subdivides into minute polygonal segments. This form has been known some years to collectors, and, if named at all, has been called P. irregularis. Lister, /. c, assures us that Berkeley's type "is typical P. depressa." Not common. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri. 3. Perichaena corticalis (Batsch) Rost. Plate II., Figs. 1, 1 a, 1 b. 1783. Lycoperdon corticate Batsch, Elench. Fung., p. 155. 1875. Perichaena corticalis (Batsch) Rost., Mon., p. 293. 1817. Perichaena populina Fries, Symb. Gast., p. 12. Sporangia sessile, gregarious, flattened, hemispherical ; peridia sim- ple, opening by a lid ; dehiscence circumscissile, the upper part chest- nut brown, the lower almost black; capillitium feebly developed, smooth, attached to the lid and usually coming away with it, bringing the brilliantly yellow spore-mass, and leaving a delicate, shining cupule adherent to the substratum ; spores yellow, nearly smooth, 10-12 fi. On and under the bark of dead elms of various species. 244 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS A very handsome little species occuring rarely with us, or perhaps overlooked by virtue of its protective coloration. Found sometimes on the inner side of the bark where the latter has separated, but not yet wholly parted company with the wood. In such situations the tiny sporangia are so nearly quite the color of the moist sub- stratum as to escape all but the closest scrutiny. The dehiscence is very remarkable, characteristic, beautiful. Black, brown, chestnut, and gold are harmoniously blended, in the opening coffers. Prior to maturity the future line of fission is plainly indicated by the differ- ence in color. This is clearly the species found by Batsch "ligni demortui putri- di in interiore corticis pagina." Bulliard has also described and figured the species, Sphaerocarpus sessilis t. 417, Fig. V. The capillitium is nearly smooth ; the spores are only slightly roughened by minute warts. Apparently not common. Iowa, Missouri ; Black Hills, South Dakota ; Canada ; — Miss Currie. 4. Perichaena marginata Schiveinitz. 1831. Perichaena marginata Schw., A^. A. F., No. 2319, p. 258. Sporangia depressed, globose, polygonal as they become approximate or crowded, hoary canescent, sessile ; peridium rather thick, persistent, circumscissile in dehiscence, covered without by minute whitish cal- careous (?) scales, within punctate by the imprint of the spores; hypothallus distinct, white ; capillitium scant or none ! Spores in mass dull yellow, by transmitted light pale, nearly smooth, 14—15 /u.. Lister, following Rostafinski, includes this form with the pre- ceding. The differences between the two forms are, it seems to us, sufficient to make convenient their separation as by Schwcinitz. Apart from the peculiar incrustation in the present species, the larger spores, and especially the peculiar white hypothallus, are distinctive. The method of dehiscence is also different. In P. corticalis the line of cleavage before spore dispersal is indicated by a definite band surrounding the sporangium. Nothing similar appears in the gray specimens of the present form, although the dehiscence is quite as certainly circumscissile. The habitat in American specimens is the ARCYRIACEJE 245 outer surface of the bark, which causes the species generally, by protective coloration, to be overlooked. Not common. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri. C. ARCYRIACE.^ Key to the Genera of the Arcyriacese A. Peridium becoming fragmentary, but persisting; capillitium non-elastic, 1. Lachnobolus B. Peridium evanescent above, persistent below; capillitium elastic, 2. Arcyri^ C. Capillitium elastic, bearing hamate branches, 3. Heterotrichia 1. Lachnobolus Fries. 1829. Lachnobolus Fries, Syst. Myc, III., p. 177. Sporangia distinct, sessile or nearly so, globose or cylindric, often distorted, scattered or densely crowded, the peridium extremely thin, ruptured irregularly, and persistent in fragments; capillitium attach- ed at numerous points to the sporangial wall, forming a dense net, the threads warted or spinulose, non-elastic. Species of this genus are easily distinguished from those of the next by the peculiar fragile peridium and the inelastic capillitium. Key to the Species of Lachnobolus A. Sporangia pale yellow, on fallen flowers and fruit-burs of Castanea, 1. L. globosus B. Sporangia rosy or copper-colored, at length ochraceous, 2. L. occidentalis 1. Lachnobolus globosus (Schiv.) Rost. 1822. Arcyria glohosa Schw., Syn. Fung. Carol., No. 400. 1875. Lachnobolus globosus (Schw.) Rost., Mon., p. 283. 1894. Arcyria albida Pers. (in part) Lister, Mycetozoa, p. 186. Sporangia on the spines of fallen chestnut burs, scattered, pale yel- low or whitish, small, globose, the peridium early evanescent above, more persistent below, stipitate; stipe small, tapering upward, from a small hypothallus; capillitium a dense but not expanding network attached chiefly to the lower portion of the sporangial wall, minutely 246 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS warted or roughened, with few expansions or inflations; spores in mass pale yellow, under the lens colorless, almost smooth, 7-8 fi. This singular little species is remarkable chiefly in the habitat it affects, — fallen chestnut burs. On these almost universal, but on nothing else, except on the fallen catkins of the same species. Regard- ed by Mr. Lister as A. cinerea, from which it differs constantly in form, in capillitium more open and with larger threads, 4-5 /i in diameter as well as in its unique habitat, and yellowish color. Distribution coterminous with that of Castanea dentata Bork- hausen, — eastern half of the United States. 2. Lachnobolus occidentalis Macbr. Plate II., Figs. 2, 2 a, 2 i ; 4 and 4 a. 1885. LacJinobolus incarnatus (Alb. & Schw.) Macbr., Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. loiva. II., p. 126. Sporangia scattered or crowded upon a hypothallus more or less distinct, globose or ellipsoidal, short-stipitate, varying somewhat in color, at first rosy or flesh-colored, later brownish or ochraceous; the peridium exceedingly thin, pellucid, mealy, evanescent above, per- sisting as a shallow cup below ; capillitium inelastic, rather closely net- ted of threads variable in thickness, marked by frequent thickenings or expansions, everywhere warted, attached to the peridial walls, spores in mass flesh-colored, under the lens colorless, smooth, globose, 7.5-9 /.. This delicate and elegant little species appears to be not uncommon, but is probably generally passed over as an Arcyria, which it super- ficially resembles. When newly formed, the sporangia have a pecul- iar rosy or flesh-colored metallic tint, which is all their own. Within a short time this color passes, and most of the material comes from the field brownish or ochraceous in color. Typical sporangia are spheri- cal on distinct short stipes; when crowded, the shape is of course less definite. The capillitium never expands as in Arcyria, but, ex- posed by the vanishing upper wall, remains a spherical mass resting upon the shallow cup-like base of the peridium. This species has been in the United States generally distributed as L. incarnatus (Alb. & Schw.) Schroet. A careful study of all de- ARCYRIA 247 scriptions of European forms and comparison of many specimens leads us to believe that we have here to do with a type presenting constant peculiarities. We have in America nothing to correspond with the figures of Schweinitz, Berkeley, or Lister. In the American gather- ings the sporangia are uniformly regular, globose, very generally short-stipitate, more or less closely gregarious, never superimposed, or heaped as shown in Berkeley's figure, for instance, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., IV., xvii., PI. ix.. Fig. 2. The Plasmodium of our species is white ; as it approaches maturity a rosy metallic tinge supervenes, quickly changing to dull yellow or alutaceous. The graphic descrip- tion given by Fries of Perichaena incamata, Syst. Myc, III., p. 193, presents scarcely a character attributable to the form before us. L. congesta Berk. & Br., evidently the form figured and described by Lister, Mycetozoa, p. 194, PI. Ixx., B., resembles our species in color and capillitium, but is entirely different in habit. Not uncommon. Maine, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska. 2. Arcyria {Hill) Pers. 1751. Arcyria Sir John Hill, Gen. Nat. Hist., II., p. 47. 1801. Arcyria Pers.. Syn. Fung., p. 182. Sporangia ovoid or cylindric or even globose, stipitate; the peridium thin, evanescent to near the base, the lower part persisting as a calyc- ulus ; the stipe variable, packed with free cell-like vesicles, resem- bling spores, but larger ; capillitium attached below, to the interior of the stipe or to the calyculus, in form an elastic network, the tubules adorned with warts, spinules, half-rings, etc., but without spiral bands or free extremities. Micheli, of course, discovered the arcyrias, put them in two genera and several species, which we may only dimly recognize. Persoon first saw distinctly the outlines of the genus as now understood and adopted the name given by Hill in his curiously prolix description of certain species, probably partly of the genus Arcyria, partly Ste- monitis. Key to the Species of Arcyria A. Mature capillitium loosely adhering to the calyculus. a. Mature capillitium far-expanded, drooping. 248 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS i. Dusky. * Long, 12 mm. or more .... I. A. magna ** Shorter, about 6 mm 2. A. oerstedtii ii. Yellow "i. A. nutans b. Mature capillitium short, not drooping, though sometimes pro- cumbent, i. Capillitium greenish yellow . . . . A-. A. versicolor ii. Capillitium reddish, flesh-colored, at length sordid, etc. * Capillitium marked by transverse half-rings, cogs, etc. 5. A. incarnata ** Capillitium marked by sharp-edged transverse plates and by numerous nodes . . . . 6. A, nodulosa *** Capillitium marked by close reticulations, 7. A. ferruginea B. Capillitium persistently attached to the calyculus. a. Sporangia reddish brown, etc i. A. denudata b. Sporangia gray or ashen i Simple 9. A. cinerea ii. Clustered 10. A. digitata c. Sporangia yellow II. A, pomiformis d. Sporangia rose-colored, .5-1.5 mm. ... 12. A. insignis 1. Arcyria magna Rex. 1893. Arcyria magna Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 364. Sporangia densely aggregated, forming clusters of greater or less extent, sometimes reaching several centimetres in either direction, tawny gray or ashen, cylindric, tapering a little above, when expand- ed reaching a length of half a centimetre or more, stipitate ; peridium evanescent except the small shallow cup-like base, the calyculus ; stipe long (1 mm.), weak, pale brown or reddish, tubular, the channel filled with plasmodic masses; capillitium gray or drab-colored, very slightly attached to the bottom of the calyculus, far expanded, form- ing a loose-meshed net, the threads regular, cylindric, coarsely sculp- tured with rings, half-rings, cogs, spines, etc.; spores in mass dull gray, drab, under the lens colorless, papillate, with few papillae, 7-8/*. This magnificent form resembles in habit and general appearance, save color, A. nutans. The capillitium is, however, very diflferent both in the sculpture and in the more delicate markings of the threads. Dr. Rex, /. c, has pointed out the lack of reticulation on the cap- illitium and calyculus. The color is also diagnostic. A roseate vari- ARCYRIA 249 ety seems to occur with the present form. This is A. magna rosea Rex, and appears to agree with the type in all respects save color. The relationship here must be determined by future inquiry. The capillitial threads are remarkable for their graceful slenderness, regu- larity, and symmetry. 2. Arcyria oerstedtii Rost. 1875. Arcyria oerstedtii Rost., Mon., p. 278, Fig. 196. Sporangia cylindric, arcuate, 1.5 mm. high when unexpanded, closely clustered, dull crimson, stipitate; peridium evanescent except here and there a persistent patch, the calyculus shallow, plicate, papil- lose within ; stipe short, weak, concolorous ; hypothallus distinct, mem- branous, concolorous; capillitium a loosC; far-expanding, elastic net, the meshes uneven, often small, the threads characterized by much irregularity and many bulbose thickenings, especially at the nodes, strongly spinulose throughout; spore-mass crimson or reddish brown, dull ; spores by transmitted light colorless, nearly smooth, sub-globose, 9-10 /x. This well-marked species is certainly rare within our limits. We have specimens from New England and from Pennsylvania. The Iowa material referred to this species. Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. la., II., p. 125, is A. magna Rex. Rostafinski's figure is excellent in the present case, and gives the idea of what we regard the typical mark- ing of the capillitium in A. oerstedtii. Externally the species resembles somewhat A. nodulosa, and the network of the capillitium is also sug- gestive of that form ; the spiny capillitium is unique. Rare. Adirondacks, New York — Dr. Rex. 3. Arcyria nutans (Bull.) Grev. Plate II., Figs. 6, 6 a, 6 b. 1791. Trichia nutans Bulliard, Champ., p. 122, t. 502, III. 1794. Arcyria fla'va Pers., Romer N. Mag. Bot., I., p. 90. 1824. Arcyria nutans Grev., Fl. Edin., p. 455. Sporangia crowded, cylindric, about 2 mm. high when unexpanded, pale yellow or buff, short-stipitate or sessile by an acute base ; peridium 250 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS wholly evanescent, except at the base, where persists the shallow, colorless, often inwardly spinulose, plicatulate calyculus; stipe very short or wanting; hypothallus thin but usually in evidence; capilli- tium expanding to great length, forming an extremely flexile, plumose, pendulose open network of pale ochraceous tint, the threads 3-4 /tx in thickness, adorned with spinules, sharp edged transverse plates sometimes rings, the surface especially marked by an indistinct reticu- lation ; spore-mass buff or ochraceous, spores by transmitted light col- orless, smooth or nearly so, 7-8 fx. This elegant species is not rare in undisturbed woods, especially on fallen willows. The expanded capillitia are very soft and plume- like, waving and nodding, very lightly attached below to the centre of the peridial cup. The capillitium threads are rough, with irregular spines and sharp-edged transverse plates, occasionally extending to form rings. Resembles the first species somewhat in habit, size, and the spinescent capillitium, but the resemblance is superficial only. The color is at once diagnostic, and the capillitium is after all entirely different. Not uncommon ; Canada to Mexico ; Maine to California ; probably cosmopolitan. Bulliard's figure determines the synonymy. Persoon called the form A. flavn, because Bulliard had missed the genus. 4. Arcyria versicolor Phillips. 1877. Arcyria versicolor Phillips, Grev., V., p. 115. 1877. Arcyria vitellina Phillips, Grev., V., p. 115. Sporangia gregarious or more or less crowded, pyriform or clavate, dingy, olivaceous yellow, becoming reddish, stipitate; peridium mem- branous, largely persistent below, where it gives rise to the deep, goblet-shaped calyculus; stipe strand-like, weak, sometimes wanting, concolorous with the peridium ; hypothallus prominent or venulose ; capillitium only slowly expanded, bright golden yellow or orange, the threads rather broadj about 4 /x in diameter, regular, even, ele- gantly branching, adorned with abundant short spines or warts, very small and evenly distributed, the whole net anchored in the bottom of the vasiform calyculus ; spore-mass yellow, by transmitted light pale or nearly colorless, smooth, about 10 /x. ARCYRIA 251 This beautiful species is easily known by its comparatively large size, peculiar, obovate shape, its brilliant color, and unusually per- sistent membranous cal_vculus. It is peculiar to the western part of North America, South Dakota west to the Pacific Ocean. South Dakota, Colorado, California, Washington. In the thin-covered mountains of Colorado, or hidden by the still drier thickets and woods of Southern Californa, the fruit of this species is small, somewhat as the clavate hemitrichia, pure, deep yellow, golden or vitelline as Phillips says; but at loftier altitudes in the ever cool forests on the high mountain flanks, beginning away up where the glacier first starts to crack and slide between the 'cleavers', and forests of stunted white-stemmed pine or wooly-fruited fir throw down their twigs and foliage undisturbed through centuries, — on down to where the plowing ice forgets its thrust, and melts to gentle floods amid spruce and hemlock-groves, — all the way the beautiful versicolor spreads and fruits, in August and September in all the richness of color which its name implies, which Phillips saw, tints of red, and yellow, and olive, and green, not brilliant, but in all the softer shades the artists love, weaving, in far-spread strands of tufted cylinders and cones upturned, fair as flowers, dusky garlands, by sunlight long forgot! Did not the old-time botanists liken these things once and again, to flowers! 5. Arcyria incarnata Persoon. 1786. Clathrus adnatus Batsch, Elench. Fung., 141. (?) 1791. Arcyria incarnata Pers., Gmel., Syst. Nat., II., 1467. Sporangia closely crowded, cylindric, 1-1.5 mm. high, rosy or flesh-colored, stipitate or almost sessile; stipe generally short, some- times barely a conical point beneath the calyculus; hypothallus none; peridium wholly evanescent, except the shallow, saucer-like, inwardly roughened calyculus; capillitium loose, broad, pale reddish, attached to the cup at the centre only by strands which enter the hollow stem, the threads adorned with transverse plates, cogs, ridges, etc., arrang- ed in an open spiral ; spore-mass rosy, spores by transmitted light colorless, nearly smooth, 7—8 /x. This common species is well marked both by its color and by the 252 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS delicate attachment of the capillitium to the calyculus. This is so frail that the slightest breath ofttimes suffices to effect a separation, and the empty calyculi are not infrequently the only evidence of the fructification. This peculiarity did not escape the attention of Per- soon, and is well shown in his figure {Obs. Myc. I., p. 58, pi. V. Figs. 4 and 5) referred to by Gmelin, /. c. Batsch simply named and described Micheli's figure (Tab. XCIV., Fig. 2), and accordingly his claim to priority is no better than Micheli's figure, which may possibly concern the present species, but is in no sense determinative. It is impossible to say what Retzius meant by his Clathrus ramosus, cited by Fries as a synonym here. Common, especially in the Mississippi valley and south ; more rare in the west; Black Hills, South Dakota; Toronto to New Mex- ico. 6. Arcyria nodulosa Macbr. Plate III., Fig. 8. Sporangia small, about 1 mm. high when unexpanded, crowded in clusters of varying size, dull red or brownish, stipitate ; the perid- ium evanescent except the cup ; stipe very short, concolorous, plicate as the cup, or both smooth and unmarked ; capillitium centrally attached, slowly expanded, open-meshed, dense, the threads even, 5-6 fx wide, expanded in globose, spinulose, or papillate-reticulate nodules, especially at points of intersection, marked everywhere by close-set, transverse, sharp-edged ridges, which encircle the thread and show no trace of spiral arrangement; spore-mass brown or red brown; spores by transmitted light pale yellow or colorless, minutely but dis- tinctly roughened, globose, 10—12 /x. This variety is not distantly related to the preceding, as shown by the centrally attached capillitial mass, but differs in several definite particulars ; the sporangia are much smaller of an entirely different col- or with longer stipes, larger, rougher spores; the capillitium is also peculiar, the threads unusually wide and densely corrugated trans- versely, expanding at frequent intervals into globose nodules which are sometimes double the width of the thread. In color suggests A. affinis Rost., but corresponds to no other particular. ARCYRIA 253 7. Arcyria ferruginea Sauter. Plate XII., Figs. 6, (, a, 6 b. 1841. Arcyria ferruginea Saut, Flora, XXIV., p. 316. 1881. Arcyria macrospora Peck, Rep. N. Y. Mus. XXXIV., p. 43 1883. Arcyria aurantiaca Raunier, Myx. Dan., p. (44). Sporangia ovoid or short cylindric, crowded or gregarious, dull red or brownish, stipitate; stipe about equal to the sporangium, dark' brown or black; hypofhallus well developed, membranous, yellowish brown continuous ; calyculus large, wide and shallow, smooth ; capilli- tium centrally attached, when fresh, brick-red in color, fading on exposure, the threads of uneven size, those above 6-7 ju,, below 3 fx, abundantly branching, marked by conspicuous reticulations formed by the intersection of numerous vertical plates or ridges; spore- mass reddish, spores by transmitted light pale ochraceous, distinctly warted, 10-12 /x. This species is distinguishable at sight by the peculiar color and form of the sporangia. Mr. Durand in Bot. Gaz., XIX., pp 89, 90, gives a careful study of the form. The same author declares the dehiscence circumscissile. We cannot distinguish A. aurantiaca Raun. from the present form. Rare. Maine, New York; Monterey, California. 8. Arcyria denudata {Linn.) Sheldon. Plate II., Figs. 5, 5 a. 1753. Clathrus denudatus Linn., Sysi. Nat., 1179, 1794. Arcyria punicea Pers., Rom. N. Mag. Bot., I., p. 90. 1895. Arcyria denudata (Linn.) Sheld., Minn. Bot. Studies, No. 9, p, 470. Sporangia crowded or gregarious, ovoid or short cylindrical, ta- pering upward, red-brown, stipitate; peridium evanescent except the plicate calyculus; stipe about equal to the expanded capillitium, con- colorous, plicate or striate, ascending from a small hypothallus ; capil- litium attached to the whole inner surface of the calyculus and connate with it ; hence not deciduous, bright red or carmine when fresh, turning brown or paler with age, the threads even, about 3 /x adorned with a scries of rather distant cogs or half rings, which 254 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS form around the thread a lengthened spiral ; spore-mass red or reddish brown, spores by transmitted light colorless, nearly smooth, 6—8 /x. This species is easily distinguished from all other of similar tints by the attachment of the capillitium. In this respect it corresponds with the following species. In the adornment of the threads it is like A. incarnata. It is by far the commonest species of the genus, and probably enjoys a world-wide distribution. To be found at all seasons on the lower side of fallen sticks, Populus, Tilia, etc. Micheli, PI. XCIV., shows that he had the present species. The description given by Linne is worthless, but helped out by Micheli, and several other authors of the eighteenth century, who take the trouble to describe the species, but still give the Linnean binomial as a syn- onym ; we may give Linne here the credit. As a matter of fact, Batsch under Embolus crocatus first presents an unmistakable de- scription and figure. Maine to the Black Hills and Colorado, and north and west; Alaska to Nicaragua. 9. Arcyria cinerea {Bull. ) Pers. Plate II., Figs. 3, 3 a. 1791. Trichia cinerea Bull., Champ, de France, p. 120, Tab. 477, Fig. iii 1801. Arcyria cinerea (Bull.) Pers., Syn. Fung., p. 184. Sporangia scattered or gregarious, ovoid or cylindrical, generally tapering upward, about 2-3 mm. high, ashen gray, sometimes with a yellowish tinge, stipitate; calyculus very small, thin; stipe about half the total height, rising from a small hypothallus, thin, gray or blackish, densely crowded with spore-like cells; capillitium dense, freely branching, ashen, or yellowish, little wider below, minutely spinulose; spore-mass concolorous, spores by transmitted light color- less, smooth, 6-7 jx. A very common little species, easily recognized by its color and habit. The capillitium is more dense than in any other species and expands less. The stipe is about equal to the expanded capillitium, unusually long. The Plasmodium occurs in rotten wood, especially species of Tilia, is gray and, judging from the number of sporangia found in one place, scanty. ARCYRIA 255 BulHard, /. c, gives the first account of the species by which it can with any certainty be identified. By some authors Clnthrus recutitus Linn, is cited as a synonym. We fail to distinguish A. cookei Mass. from the old type. Widely distributed; Maine to Alaska, and south to Mexico and Nicaragua. 10. Arcyria digitata (Schiv.) Rost. 1831. Stemonitis digitata Schw., A'^. A. F., p. 260, No. 23 SO. 1868. Arcyria bicolor Berk. & C, Jour. Linn. Soc, X., p. 349. 1875. Arcyria digitata (Schw.) Rost., Mon., p. 274. Sporangia compound, that is gathered in tufts, number 3-12 or more on a single stipe, the clusters themselves scattered ; individual sporangia elongate cylindric, about 3-4 mm. long, ashen gray or nearly white, stipitate; stipe as long or longer than the sporangium, stout, sometimes showing traces of consolidation of several, sometimes none, dark brown or black; capillitium looser and more expanded than in the last, the threads more strongly spinulose; spore-mass concolor- ous, spores under the lens colorless, smooth, globose, 7.5-8 fi. Closely related to the preceding, but different in habit and on the whole larger and more robust throughout. The stipes in some cases are completely merged in one ; in others traces of coalescence remain. The number of united sporangia varies. There are some clusters before us containing 16 and 18 in a single fascicle! Not very common. On rotten wood of deciduous trees, especially south. New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio; Black Hills, South Dakota, and south to Nicaragua. Arcyria bicolor Berk, k C. seems to refer to the fact that the spor- angia have sometimes an ochraceous tint. Berkeley's specimens are from Cuba. Our latest specimens are from Nicaragua; the form seems not to be reported from the old world. 11. Arcyria pomiformis (Leers) Rost. 1775. Mucor pomiformis Leers, Flor. Herb., p. 218. 1875. Arcyria pomiformis Rost., Mon., p. 271. Sporangia scattered, gregarious, globose, bright yellow, very minute, 256 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS .5 mm. high, .3 mm. in diameter, stipitate; stipe short, one-third the total height, pale brown or yellow ; hypothallus none ; capillitium loose, freely expanding, not deciduous, honey-yellow, the threads generally wide, 4-5 /x, toward the periphery more narrow, 2.5 /i, warted, marked with blunt spinules, which not infrequently pass into distinct transverse, narrow plates or half-rings, free ends cla- vate and numerous; spore-mass yellow, spores by transmitted light smooth, granular, globose, 7-9 /x. This species as represented by the material before us seems con- stant in size, color, and microscopic characters, in all which it differs from all species here listed. It resembles somewhat Lachnobolus globosus Schw., but differs in habit, habitat, color, the capillitium, its attachment and in the mode of dehiscence. In the present species the wall is evanescent almost in toto; in L. globosus is it remarkably persistent, and the capillitium is adherent. Probably rare. Its smallness removes it from sight of all but tlie most exact collectors. Maine, New York, South Carolina, Ala- bama, Missouri, Iowa; Black Hills, South Dakota; Ontario; — Miss Carrie. While usually remotely gregarious a collection from southern Cali- fornia shows that on occasion the entire Plasmodium may pass to fruit with narrowest limits, forming a stipitate, compact, globose mass of crowded, super-imposed sporangia as in Oligonerna nitens. Set Plate XX., Fig. 12. 12. Arcyria insignis Kalkbr. &" Cke. 1882. Arcyria insignis Kalkbr. & Cke., Grev., X., p. 143. 1911. Arcyria insignis Kalkbr. & Cke., List., Mycet., 2nd ed., p. 240. Sporangia gregarious or clustered, pale or bright rose-colored, .5-1.5 mm. in height, stipitate, ovate or cylindric; stipe short, .2-.4 mm. red, with spore-like cells ; capillitium a close net-work of delicate threads with a few bulbous free ends, with faint transverse bands or short spinules, or nearly smooth, colorless beneath the lens; spores colorless, nearly smooth, 6-8 /x. Reported from Mass. by Miss Lister. Should follow No. 8 : apparently a very delicate form of the common species, A. denudata. HETEROTRICHIA 257 3. Heterotrichia Mass. 1892. Heterotrichia Mass., Mon., p. 139. Sporangia distinct, stipitate; the peridium simple evanescent above as in Arcyria; capillitium centrally attached, freely branched, the threads within very slender, without broad, anastomosing to form a dense peripheral network, and everywhere extended to form short, free, often hamate tips. A single species, — 1. Heterotrichia gabriellae (Rav.) Mass. Plate XIIL, Figs. 1, 1 a. 1850. Arcyria gabriellae Rav. in litt. ad Cooke. 1892. Heterotrichia gabriellae Mass., Mon., p. 140. 1911. Arcyria ferruginea Saut., var. heterotrichia List., Mycet., 2nd ed., p. 234. Sporangia crowded or gregarious, oblong cylindric, ovoid, at first red, becoming yellowish brown, stipitate; the peridium evanscent except the calyculus, which is small and thin, polished; stipe shorter than the expanded capillitium, pale reddish brown ; capillitium cen- trally attached, showing threads of two sorts, those within freely branching, slender, 1-1^ /x, marked with half-rings or ridges, those on the periphery very different, yellow, broad, 5-6 ^, forming rather dense reticulations, with abundant free tips, acute and often curved, the whole surface here minutely and densely warted ; spore-mass red- dish yellow, spores by transmitted light colorless, globose, 7-8 fi. The peculiar double capillitium seems to separate this form from the true arcyrias. Some difference in the diameter of the capillitial threads in different regions is not infrequent in the several species of Arcyria, but that difference is here emphasized and rendered yet more striking by the peculiar free tips. The present forms bear only the most superficial resemblance to A. ferruginea Saut., with which species it is in some quarters sought to unite it. Very rare. Collected, as noted, nearly fifty years ago in South Carolina by Ravenel, it was more recently (1896) again collected in Maine by the late Professor Harvey. 18 258 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS D. PROTOTRICHIACE^ A single genus, — Prototrlchia Rost. 1876. PrototrUhia Rost, Mon. App., p. 38. A single species, — 1. Prototrichia metallica {Berk.) Mass. Plate XVIIL, Figs. 12, 12 a, 12 b. 1860. Trichia metallica Berk. Hook., Fl. Tasm., 2, p. 168. 1866. Trichia flag ellif era Berk. & Br., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 3, XVII., p. 56. 1876. Prototrichia flag ellif era (Berk.) Rost. Mon. App., p. 38. 1894. Prototrichia flag ellif era Rost., List., Mycet. 2nd ed., p. 206. 1899. Prototrichia flagellifera (Berk. & Br.) Rost,, Macbr., A^. A. S., p. 199. 1892. Prototrichia metallica Mass., Mon., p. 127. 1911. Prototrichia metallica Mass., List., Mycet., 2nd ed., p. 260. Sporangia sessile, scattered or sometimes crowded, brown, some- times with a rosy tinge, about 1 mm. in diameter; peridium a thin, transparent, iridescent membrane, bearing in its inner surface the distal attachments of the capillitial threads; capillitium of numerous brown, spirally banded threads, which take origin in the base of the sporangium, become subdivided as they ascend, and are at length attached by their tips to the sporangium wall ; spore-mass brown, spores by transmitted light pale, minutely roughened. This curious form, with its spirally sculptured capillitial threads attached at both ends, stands intermediate between Dianema and Hemitrichia and Trichia. Berkeley called it a trichia, ignoring the attachment of the threads. Cooke notes this as sufficient to exclude the form from the genus. But it remained for Rostafinski to make the transfer by setting up for its reception the genus now adopted. He preferred the later (1866) specific name as more descriptive. Miss Lister reverts to the earlier name with the remark; "Little now re- mains of the type Prototrichia metallica Berk, from Tasmania; but the specimen is referred to Prototrichia flagellifera by Rostafinski who saw it in good condition." Not uncommon in the abietine forests of the West. Alberta, Ore- gon, Washington, California, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, Colorado. HEMITRICHIA 259 E. TRICHIACE.^ Capillitium marked by spiral bands, sometimes scattered rings, etc., the threads entirely free, or at least loosely branched, and with free tips more or less nurqerous. Key to the Genera of the Trichiaceae A. Capillitium threads long, generally united to form a loose net, centrally attached, a. Sculpture spiral 1. Hemitrichia b. Sculpture reticulate 2. Calonema B. Capillitial threads shorter, entirely free, though sometimes branched. a. Threads, elaters, marked by spiral bands . . 3. Trichia b. Sculpture irregular or wanting .... 4. Oligonema 1. Hemitrichia Rost. 1829. Hemiarcyria Fries, Syst. Myc, III., p. 183 in part. 1873. Hemitrichia Rost., Versuch, p. 14. Capillitium a tangled net of more or less branching and anastomos- ing fibres centrally attached ; the sculpture regular, of conspicuous spirally winding bands or ridges; habit and color various. The species here associated are intermediate between Arcyria and Trichia, resembling the former in the capillitial net and the latter in thread-sculpture. Fries applied the name Hefniarcyrieae to a group of trichias so-called, citing H. rubiformis as the first. In his Versuch Rostafinski wrote Hemitrichia and afterward Hemiarcyria in the Monograph. Massee combines the genera Arcyria and Hemiarcyria under the former name. Key to the Species of Hemitrichia A. Plasmodiocarpous a. Plasmodiocarp net-like, yellow . . . \. H. serpula b. Imperfectly plasmodiocarpous, brown . . 2. H. karstenii B. Sporangia all distinct. a. Sessile; very short stalked i. Peridium hyaline, iridescent . . . . 3. //. ovata ii. Peridium opaque 10. H. montana b. Stipitate, generally distinctly so; sometimes nearly sessile. i. Yellow or ochraceous. * Stalk hollow. t Small, y^ mm., iridescent . . 6. H. leiocarpa tt Larger, 1 mm., smooth but not iridescent 260 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS 1. Free ends more or less abundant, 8. H. clavata 2. Free ends none . . . 9. //. stipitata * Stalk solid 7. H. intorta ii. Not yellow. * Ruby red 4. //. •vesparium ** Copper-colored 5. //. stipata 1. Hemitrichia serf u la (Scop.) Rost. Plate III., Figs. 4, 4 a, 4 b. 1772. Mucor serpula Scop., FL Carn, II., p. 493. 1794. Trichia serpula (Scop.) Pers., Rom. N. Bot. Mag., I., p. 90 1875. Hemiarcyria serpula (Scop.) Rost., Mon., p. 266. Fructification plasmodiocarpous, often covering several square centi- metres, terete, branching freely and usually everywhere reticulate, rusty, tawny, or bright yellow ; the peridium thin, transparent, with irregular dehiscence; hypothallus none; capillitium variable, a tangle of long yellow threads, sparingly branched, free everywhere, except be- low, spinulose, the free tips spinose, acuminate, spiral ridges three or four, with traces of longitudinal strise; spore-mass golden yellow, spores beneath the lens pale yellow, globose, delicately reticulate, about 10 /x. Very common, recognized by its bright yellow color and conspic- uous reticulate habit. The Plasmodium is yellow, at least upon emer- gence, and passes almost without change to fruit. Found on rotten logs of every description, on the lower surface. In the Mississippi valley, the lower surface of planks used in the construction of side- walks appears to be a favorite habitat. Common west to the Rocky Mountains, south to Mexico and Nic- aragua. 2. Hemitrichia karstenii {Rost.) List. 1876. Hemiarcyria karstenii Rost., Mon., App., p. 41. 1891. Hemiarcyria obscura Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 395. 1894. Hemitrichia karstenii Lister, Mycetozoa, p. 178. Fructification plasmodiocarpous, with a tendency to form distinct sessile, globose sporangia, color brownish red ; capillitium a sparingly branched network, with free ends few, the thread marked by HEMITRICHIA 261 seven or eight faint spirals, the interspaces narrow, dull red in color, and 2.5 /x in diameter; spores yellow, delicately warted, 10-10.5 fx. This is doubtless a very rare species. In the description we have followed Dr. Rex, /. c, as being more to the point for American forms. It is not improbable that the American material may after all be distinct, as discrepancies, if one may judge by descriptions, are not few. Lister, who had a slide from Dr. Rex, considers the European and American forms the same. In outward appearing, plasmodiocarpous phases of this species very closely resemble forms of Licea or Ophiotheca, and are in consequence often wrongly labeled. Toronto ; Montana — Anderson. To be looked for north and west. 3. Hemitrichia ovata (Pers.) Macbr. 1796. Trichia ovata Pers., Obs. Myc, I., p. 61, and II., p. 35. 1863. Trichia abietina Wigand, Pringsh. Jahr., III., p. 33, Tab. ii.. Fig. 11. 1875. Hemiarcyria luigandii Rost, Mon., p. 167. Sporangia crowded or sometimes closely gregarious, subglobose or turbinate, shining yellow, sessile, the peridium thin, iridescent ; cap- illitium a tangle of sparingly branched yellow or ochraceous-yellow threads, rather slender, 3-5 fx, marked by one or two prominent spiral bands forming a loose somewhat irregular spiral, the free ends not infrequent, inflated and rounded ; spore-mass yellow or yellow-ochra- ceous, spores by transmitted light pale yellow, distinctly and sharply spinulose, but not netted, 10-11 jx. A rare and beautiful species, distinguished well by the small size, about .5 mm., by the thin iridescent peridium, as by the microscopic characters of the capillitial threads. There is no doubt that this is Persoon's Trichia ovata. His de- scription is accurate in all that pertains to external features, and Rostafinski, Jpp.j p. 41, explicitly says that he saw in Persoon's herbarium specimens of the species bearing the name cited. Just why Rostafinski did not here adopt the older name is not clear, nor is there excuse for abandoning Wigand's name were Persoon's invalid. According to Lister, Trichia nana Mass., from Maine, is the same thing. Persoon, /. c, gives a synonymy which, in the nature of case, is unverifiable, the specific characters being microscopic. 262 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS Fries, Sysi. Myc, III., p, 187, confirms Persoon and takes pains to say that the color separates it from T. chrysosperma with which it is sometimes compared. Rare. Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Toronto. 4. Hemitrichia vesparium (B^tsch) Macbr. Plate III., Figs. 2 and 2 a. 1786. Lycoperdon vesparium Batsch, Elench. Fung., pp. 255, 256, Fig. 172. 1794. Trichia rubiformis Pers., Rom. N. Bot. Mag., I., p. 88. 1875. Hem'tarcyria rubiformis (Pers.) Rost., Mon., p. 262. Sporangia clustered or crowded, rarely single, clavate or subcylin- dric stipitate or sessile, dark wine-red or red-black in color, the perid- ium in perfect specimens glossy or shining metallic, opaque; stipes solid, usually blent together, concolorous ; capillitium of intertwisted slender threads, sparingly branched, marked by three or four spiral ridges, abundantly spinulose, the free tips also acuminate, terminating in a spine, the whole mass dull red. Spore-mass brownish-red, spores by transmitted light reddish-orange, very distinctly warted, sub- globose, 10-12 [x. A most common species, on rotten wood every\vhere, especially in forests. Recognized generally at sight by its color and fasciculate habit. The peridium shows a tendency, often, to circumscissle dehis- cence, and persists long after the contents have been dissipated, in this condition suggesting the name applied by Batsch, vesparium, wasp- nest. The capillitium is remarkably spinescent, the branching of the threads, rare. Rostafinski describes the spores as smooth ; they seem to be uniformily distinctly warted. The Plasmodium is deep red, and a plasmodiocarpous fructification occasionally appears. Throughout the whole range. New England to Washington and Oregon, south to Nicaragua; Toronto. 5. Hemitrichia stipata (Schzv.) Macbr. Plate I., Figs. 8, 8 a, 8 b. 1834. Leangium stipatum Schw., N. A. F., p. 258, No. 2304. 1876. Hemiarcyria stipata (Schw.) Rost., Mon. A pp., pp. 41, 42. 1894. Arcyria stipata (Schw.) Lister, Mon. Mycetozoa, p. 189. HEMITRICHIA 263 Sporangia distinct, crowded, cylindric or irregular, overlying one another, rich copper-colored, metallic, shining, becoming brown, stip- itate ; peridium thin, the upper portion early evanescent, the base per- sistent as a cup, as in Arcyria; capillitium concolorous, the thread abundantly branched to form a loose net, with many free and bul- bous ends, pale under the lens, marked by three or four somewhat obscure spiral bands and a few wart-like or plate-like thickenings; stipe very short ; spore-mass reddish, spores by transmitted light pale, nearly or quite smooth, 6-8 fx. This species is known at sight by its peculiarly beautiful tint when fresh, as by the crowded prolix habit of the singular overlying sporan- gia. The netted capillitium and the evanescent peridium suggests Arycria, but there are abundant free tips, and the threads are un- mistakably spirally wound, especially in the large, handsome sporangia characteristic of the Mississippi valley. It is a boundary form un- questionably. The stipe is generally very short, about one-tenth the total height ; sometimes, when the peridium is more globose, the stipe is proportionally longer. Specimens from Iowa show fructifications several centimetres long and wide. Not rare. New England to the Black Hills and south. 6. Hemitrichia leiocarpa (Cke.) Macbr. 1877. Hemiarcyria leiocarpa Cke., Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., XL, p. 405. 1891. Hemiarcyria varneyi Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 396. Sporangia simple, obovate or pyriform, rarely almost globose, pallid, with a stem of the same color, as long as the diameter of the sporan- gium; spore-mass and capillitium concolorous, or with slight ochra- ceous tint; capillitium forming a loose net, the tubes branching in a reticulate manner; spirals three, thin, prominent, along the convex sides of the tubes mixed with a few obtuse spines; spores globose, with a thin membrane, 12-14 /x. Such is the original description of this distinctly American species. H. varneyi Rex should differ in having spirals seven or eight, and spore only 6.25 ju,. Mr. Lister, who has compared types of both species, declares them the same! The present writer has been unable to se- cure authentic specimens. Pennsylvania. 264 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS 7. Hemitrichia ixtorta List. 1891. Hemiarcyria intorta Lister, Jour. Bot., p. 268. 1891. Hemiarcyria longifila Rex, Proc. Phil Acad., p. 396. 1894, Hemitrichia intorta List., Mycetozoa, p. 176. Sporangia gregarious, globose-turbinate or pyriform, golden-yellow, stipitate ; peridium thin, translucent, shining, opening at the summit irregularly, leaving a funnel-shaped receptacle below; stipe dark red brown, solid, rugulose ; capillitium of threads sparingly branched, but looped and doubled upon themselves and constantly intertwisted, or- ange-yellow, 3—4 fi in diameter, with spirals four, sparingly spinu- lose, even and regular, the longitudinal striae conspicuous; spores in mass concolorous, under the lens yellow, delicately warted, globose, 9-10 IX. Concerning this species, Dr. Rex says: "Externally this species resembles H. clavata Pers., and has probably often been mistaken for it. The capillitium, however, in its structural details and habit of growth, is widely different. The partial untwisting of the loops of the capillitium by drying, after the rupture of the sporangium, causes it to be projected and elongated sometimes two or three times the length of the sporangium." Outwardly the open sporangium, by the projecting free tips, reminds one of a trichia. The capillitium is like that of H. vesparium, but less rough, and, of course, different in color. Rare. Fairmount Park, Philadelphia; Ohio, Iowa. 8. Hemitrichia clavata (Pers.) Rost. Plate IIL, Figs. 1, 1 b. 1794. Trichia clavata Pers., R'6m. N. Bot. Mag., L, p. 90. 1873. Hemitrichia clavata Pers., Rost., Versuch, p. 14. 1875. Hemiarcyria clavata (Pers.) Rost, Mon., p. 264. 1893. Hemiarcyria ablata Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc, p. 30. 1893. Hemiarcyria funalis Morg., Jour Cin. Soc, p. 32. Sporangia clavate or turbinate, gregarious, scattered or crowded, yellow, olivaceous or brownish, stipitate; the peridium generally thin, evanescent above, breaking away so as to leave a more or less definite cup beneath; stipe about one-half the total height, reddish, reddish- brown, or blackish, hollow about half-way down; capillitium various. HEMITRICHIA 265 yellow or ochraceous, made up of slender threads more or less freely branched and netted, bearing four or five regular, even, spiral plates which project sharply and are generally smooth, the free extremities numerous or almost none, swollen, or simply obtuse ; spore-mass con- colorous, spores by transmitted light pale yellow, globose, minOtely but distinctly warted, 8-9 fx. This cosmopolitan species is generally one of the first brought in by the collector, its color and comparatively large size, 2-3 mm. high, making it conspicuous. Nevertheless, we are not able to recognize it in the descriptions of the older authors. Rostafinski quotes Schmiedel, Icones, 1776, as affording the earliest account of the species, but neither his description nor figure is definitive. Even Bul- liard fails us here, and is differently interpreted by different authors. Persoon's description is none too good, but is reenforced by Fries and Rostafinski. The capillitium is variable both in the degree of smooth- ness presented, and the number of free ends, and the amount of branching. The spores in all specimens we have examined are re- markably constant in .'ize and surface. In typical spcimens free ends are easily discoverable, the branching forms a definite net, and the perfectly formed capillitial thread is smooth. In some American forms — developed under less favorable circumstances ? — the net is less determined, the free ends are many, and the spirals minutely rough. Here may be placed H. funalis Morgan, /. c. Widely distributed. New England to Colorado, south to Mexico. 9. Hemitrichia stipitata {Mass.) Macbr. 1889. Hemiarcyria stipitata Mass., Jour. Mic. Soc, p. 354. 1893. Hemiarcyria plumosa, Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc, p. 29. Sporangia scattered, seldom crowded, obovoid or turbinate, oliv- aceous yellow, stipitate ; the peridium smooth without, granulose with- in, evanescent above, persisting as a funnel-shaped cup below ; the stipe long, reddish or blackish, rising from a small hypothallus ; capillitium of threads 5-6 yu, thick, very much branched, forming a dense net, free ends none, or not evident; the sculpture as in H. davata, smooth and regular; spore-mass yellow; spores by transmitted light yellow, minutely warted, 7-8 /x. This form corresponds in nearly every respect with H davata, 266 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS except in the structure of the capillitium. The color is rather ochra- ceous, dirty yellow, and the stipe is proportionally longer and darker, but the form of the net is positive and gives to the species a de- cidedly striking and unique appearance, so that it may be recognized by the naked eye. It looks like an arcyria and for this reason Profes- sor Morgan said //. plumosa. Lister regards it as the same as our number 8. Common. Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and west; south to Mex- ico. 10. Hemitrichia MONTANA Morgan. Sporangia scattered or gregarious more or less closely, globose, whitish, sessile or very short stipitate; the peridium opaque, dull white, persistent below; capillitium deep yellow, the threads abun- dantly branched, forming a compact network, 7 fi wide, bearing spirals five or six, uneven and irregular, or anon interrupted, conspicuously spinulose or warted, free tips not lacking, generally inflated ; spore- mass yellow, spores by transmitted light pale, nearly colorless, dis- tinctly warted, 10 ^i. Recognizable by its peculiar pallid, sessile sporangia, as by the in- ternal structure. Perhaps related to Herniarcyria bucknalli Mass. Our specimens are from Mr. Morgan, of Ohio, with the statement that they were collected in the San Bernardino Mountains, Califor- nia, by Mr. S. B. Parrish ; collected later from Monterey south. Common throughout south-western states to lower California. 2. Calonema Morgan. 1893. Calonema Morgan, Jour. Cin. Sac, p. 33. Sporangia sub-globose, crowded or superimposed, irregular sessile ; hypothallus none; capillitium of slender tubules, arising from the sporangium base, branched, marked with branching veins in an ir- regular reticulation, and terminating in free extremities. Spores yellow. 1. Calonema aureum Morgan. Plate XIIL, Figs. 2, 2 a, 2 b, 2 c. 1893. Calonema aureum Morgan, /. c. TRICHIA 267 Sporangia crowded or heaped in scattered clusters; peridium thin, golden yellow, adorned with intricate radiating veinlets capillitium of threads more or less branched, attached below, free above, the sur- face to the very tips venulose, interrupted with rings or fragmentary spirals, the apices bulbous and obtusely conical ; spore-mass yellow, spores by transmitted light bright yellow, covered by a network of interlocking plates, as in T. favoginea, globose, 14-16 /x. A curious form, related to Hemitrichia, much as Oligonema is to Trichia. Related to both the genera first named, but distinct, in the peculiar sculpture, from Hemitrichia, and from Oligonema in that the threads are not entirely free. Professor Morgan's original determination, founded on Ohio materials is confirmed by material sent us by Professor Underwood from Alabama. 3. Trichia {Haller) Rost. 1768. Trichia Haller, Hist. Stir p. Hel,"<', der- mis, covering. COMATRICHA 171 i^o/tr/, and ffi'i, both words meaning hair. Gr. Craterium 103 KpiiT'/p, a vessel. Gr. Cribraria 216 cribrum, a sieve. Lat. 20 PAGE DiACHAEA 185 rfiax«w, to pour out; the ap- plication not patent. Gr. DiANEMA 238 ^la, through or across, and vf/fia, thread. Gr. Dictydium 230 diKTvnv, a net. Gr. Dictydi^thalium 215 Dictydium and asthalium ; the latter from aiHa'/JK, sooty. Gr. DiDERMA 129 <5'r, twice or twofold, and c^ipfia, as above. Gr. DiDYMIUM 115 di^vnoc, double. Gr. ECHINOSTELIUM 198 fX'"or, a sea-urchin, and aTTjliov, (?), a handle or stem. Gr. Enerthenema 189 ivepOe, below, and ''//'«, a thread. Enteridium 211 h'Tipov the intestine. Gr. FULIGO 23 fuligo, soot. Lat. Hemiarcyria 259 >/f'i, half, and Arcyria. Hemitrichia 259 Wl, half, and Trichia. 289 290 INDEX PAGE Heterotrichia 256 erepor, other, and Trichia. Lachnobolus 245 Mvxor, woolly, and /Sw'^r, a lump. Gr. Lamproderma 191 ?.afj7rp6r, shining, and (^tpfia, as above. Gr. Leocarpus Ill ^lo-, smooth, and napTro-, fruit. Gr. Lepidoderma 144 leTzi-, a scale, and (Sen/ua, a covering. Gr. Licea 199 said to be Latin; licium, a thrum, a girdle. LiNDBLADIA 203 A. Lindblad; personal. Lycogala 233 IvKo^, a wolf, and yala, a, milk. Gr, Margarita 237 fiapyapLTi/-, a pearl. Gr. Mucilago 113 mucilago, musty juice. Lat. Oligonema 278 bliyocr, few, and vijfia, a thread. Gr. page Ophiotheca 240 ooT, a serpent, and Otjkj], a case. Gr. Orcadella 203 opx-fi, a cask ( ?). Diminutive. PERICHitNA 242 ~i:'pi, around, and x"'*'^"', to crack open. Gr. Physarum 45 (p'van, a bladder, something inflated. Physarella 71 Diminutive of Physarum. Plasmodiophora 17 nAciafia, something formed, and 0o/)(\-, that bears. Gr. Prototrichia 257 TTpwro-, first, and Trichia. Reticularia 209 reticulum, a small net. Lat. Stemonitis 156 Like a stamen. Tilmadoche 95 TtA//n, lint, andf^ox'), contain- ing. Gr. Trichia 267 o« (Alb. & Schw.) Fr., 50. rugosum {Rex) Macbr., 144. sauteri {Rost.) Macbr., 139. simplex List., 132. spumarioides Fr., 132. squamulosum Alb. & Schw., 119. steilare (Schrad.) Pars., 141. testaceum {Schrad.) Pers., 137. trevelyani {Grev.) Fr., 142. vernicosum Pers., 112. DiDYMIUM, 115. anellus Morg., 117. annulatum Macbr., 125. anomalum Sturg., 127. chrysopeplum Berk. & C, 47. cinereum (Batsch) Fr., 35. clavus {Alb. & Schvj.) Rabh., 122. complanatum {Batsch) Rost., 116. connatum Peck, 41. crustaceum Fr., 118. difforme Duby, 126. dubium 7?oj/., 126. effusum Link., 119. erythrinum Berk., 50. excelsum Jahn, 128. eximium Peck, 124. farinaccum Schrad., 121. fulvum Sturg., 118. glaucum Phill., 41. gyrocephalum Mont., 95. hemisphericum (Bull.) Fr., 138. intermedium Schrad., 128. lateritium Berk. & Rav., 33. leoninum Berk. & Br., 128. melanopus Fr., 122. melanospermum {Pers.) Macbr,, 121. melleum Berk. & Br., 47. michelii Lib., 138. microcarpon (Fr.) Rost., 123. minus List., 121. nigripes Fr., 91. nigripes {Link) Fr., 123. obrusseum Berk. & C, 52. oculatum Lipp., 147. paraguayense Speg., 103. polyccphalum (Schw.) Fr., 95. polymorphum Mont., 95. proximum Berk. & C, 123. quitense {Pat.) Torr., 127. ravenelii Berk. & C, 48. 294 INDEX scrpula Fr., 116. squamulosum (Alb. & Schw.) Fr., 119. stellate Schrad., 141. tenerrimum Berk. & C, 52. testaceum Schrad., 137. tigrinutn Schrad., 145. trochus List., 125. vvilczekii Meylan, 117. xanthopus (Dttm.) Fr., 123. zeylanicum Berk, & Br., 102. Diphtherium. flaz'ofuscum Ehr., 176. ECHINOSTELIUM, 198. minutum DeBary, 198. Enerthenema, 189. berkeleyanum Rost., 190. elegans Bowm., 190. papillatum {Pers.) Rost., 190. syncarpon Sturg., 190. Enteridium, 211. cinereum Schw., 26. minutum Sturg., 214. olivaceum Ehr., 214. rozeanum (Rost.) Wing., 211. splendens Morg., 211. Erionema, 31. aureum Penz., 31. FULIGO, 23. cinerea {Schiv.) Morg., 26. ellipsospora List., 26. flava Pers., 29. intermedia Machr., 30. laevis Pers., 29. megaspora Sturg., 30. muscorum Alb. & Sc/iiv., 25. ochracea Peck, 25. ovata (Sc/iaejf.) Macbr., 6, 27. plumbea Schum., 215. rufa Pers., 28. septica (L.) Gmel, 27. varians Rost., 27. 'varians Sommf., 23. violacea Pers., 29. Hemiarcyria, see next, 259. Hemitrichia, 259. ablata Morg., 264. clavata {Pers.) Rost., 264. funalis Morg., 264. intorta List., 263. karstenii Rost., 260. leiocarpa Cooke, 263. longifila Rex, 263. montana Morg., 266. obscura Rex, 260. ovata {Pers.) Macbr., 261. plumosa (Morg.), 265. rubiformis (Pers.) Rost., 262. serpula {Scop.) Rost., 260. stipata {Sc/iiv.) Rost., 262. stipitata Mass., 265. varneyi Rex, 263. vesparium {BatscJi) Macbr., 262. ivigandii Rost., 261. Heterotrichia, 256. gabriellae {Rav.) Mass., 257. Isaria, mucida Pers., 19. Lachnobolus, 245. congesta Berk. & Br., 247. cribrosus Fr., 150. globosus {Schiv.) Rost., 245. incarnatus (Alb. & Schw.) Schroet., 246. occidentalis Macbr., 246. Lamproderma, 191. arcyrioides (Sommf.) Morg., 194. arcyrioides iridea Cke., 195. arcyrionema Rost., 197. columbinum {Pers.) Rost., 194. ellisiana Cke., 177. irideum (Cke.) Mass., 195. minutum Rost., 144. physaroides {Alb. & Sc/itv.) Rost., 192. robustum Ell. & Ev., 193. sauteri Rost., 193. scintillans (Berk. & Br.) List, 195. violaceum (Fr.) Rost., 196. Leangiutn. stipatum Schw., 262. trevelyani Grev., 142. INDEX 295 Leocarpus, 111. fragilis {Dicks.) Rost., 112. f raff His Link., 81. fulvus Macbr., 86. 'vernicosum Link., 112. Lepidoderma, 144. carestianum Rost., 145. chaiiietii Rost., 146. stellatum Mass., 61. tigrinum {Schrad.) Rost., 128, 145. LiCEA, 199. biforis Morg., 201. effusa Ehr., 203. minima Fr., 201. ochracea Peck, 25. pusilla Schrad., 202. ruffulosa Walir., 215. stipitata Berk. & R., 207. variabilis Schrad., 200. LiNDBLADIA, 203. effusa {Ehr.) Rost., 204. tubulina Fr., 154. Lycogala, 233. atrum Alb. & Schw., 149. conicum Pers., 236. contortum Ditm., 269. epidendrum {Buxb.) Fr., 6, 233. exiguum Morg., 236. flavofuscum {Ehr.) Rost., 234. miniata Pars., 234. ierrestre Fries, 234. Lycoperdon, 175. cinereum Batsch, 34. complanatum Batsch, 116. corticale Batsch, 243. epidendron (Buxb.) L., 233. favogineum Batsch, 272. fragile Dicks., 81. fuliginosum Sow., 149. pusillum Hedw., 276. radiatum L., 141. vesparium Batsch, 262. Margarita metallica {Berk. & Br.,) List. 237. MUCILACO, 113. spongiosa {Leyss.) Morg., 114 Mucor, 23. cancellatus Batsch, 230. ovatus Schaeff., 27. pomiformis Leers, 255. septicus L., 27. serpula Scop., 260. spongiosus Leyss., 83. stemonitis Scop., 181. Oligonema, 278. brevifilum Peck, 280. flavidum {Peck) Mass., 279. fulvum Morg., 281. nitens {Lib.) Rost., 280. Ophiotheca, 240. chrysosperma Currey, 241. pallida Berk. & C, 240. umbrina Berk. & C, 240. vermicularis {Schii;.) Macbr., 240. wrightii Berk. & C, 241. Orcadella, 203. operculata JVing., 203. Orthotrichia, 191. microcephala Wing., 191. Perichaena, caespitosa Peck, 204. corticalis {Batsch) Rost., 243. depressa Lib., 6, 242. flavida Peck, 279. incarnata (Alb. & Schw.) Fr., 247. irregularis Berk. & C, 243. marginata Schiv., 244. pallida (Schw.) Rost., 240. populina Fr., 243. quadrata Macbr., 243. vaporaria Schw., 242. Physarella, 108. mirabilis Peck, 109. oblonga {Berk. & C.) Morg., 109. Physarum, 45. aeneum {List.) R. G. Fries, 101. affine Rost., 80. albescens Ell., 86. 296 INDEX albicans Peck, 66. album Fr., 76. alpinum G. List., 54. alrorubrum Peck, 68. atrum Schw., 78. auranlium Pers., 98. aurcum Pers., 98. auriscalpium Cke., 86, 90. bcrkeleyi (Rost.) List., 92, 93. bethel ii {Macbr.) List., 94. bitectum Lij/., 53. bivalve Pers., 52. bogoriense Racib., 54. brunneolum PIiilL, 58. caespitosum Schw., 85. calidris List., 76. carneum Ljj/. iSf Siurg., 85. cernuum (Schum.) Fr., 97. chrysopeplum Berk. & C, 65. chrysotrichum Berk. & C, 34, 50. cinereum {Batsch) Pers., 51, 59, 99. cinereum Ell. & Ev., 36. citrinellum Peck, 85. citrinum ScJium., 66, 85. clavus Alb. & Schw., 122. columbinum Macbr., 66. columbinum Pers., 73. compactum List., 72. compressum Alb. & Sc/inv., 80. confertum Macbr., 64. confluens (Pers.) Morg., 80. conglomeratum {Fr.) Rost., 57. connatum Peck, 80. connexum (Link.) Morg., 80. contextum Pers., 56. crateriforme Petch., 100. cupripes Berk. & R., 93. decipiens Curt., 34. dictyospermum List., 100. diderma /?oi/., 53, 55. didermoides {Ach.) Rost., 6, 55, 78. discoidale Macbr., 74. ditmari Rost., 61. echinosporum List., 101. effusum Schw., 130. ellipsosporum Rost., 26. erytlirinum Berk., 69. farloivii Rost., 66. flavidum Peck, 57. flavicomum Berk., 93. flavum Fr., 84. fulvum List., 86. galbeum ff^ing., 92. glaucum (Phill.) Mass., 41. globuliferum (Bw//.) P^r^., 66. griseum Link., 59. gulielmae Penzig, 101. gyrosum /Joj/., 49, 94, 95. hyalinum Pers., 40. inaequale Peck, 50. instratum Macbr., 62. lateritium (BfrjJ' i£f Br.) Rost., 50. leucophaeum /'r., 75. leucophaeum (Fr.) Macbr., 80. leucopus Link., 79. lilacinum Sturg. & Bilg., not Fr., 67. lividum Rost, 78. luteurn Pers., 59. luteo-album Lij/., 71, macrocarpon Cesati, 37 ; Fuckel, 102. maculatum Macbr., 77. maydis Torn, 91. megalosporum Sturg., 63. melanospermum Pers., 88. melleum {Berk. & Br.) Mass., 65. microcarpon Fr., 123. mortoni Macbr., 58. murinum List., 68. mutabile {Rost) List., 99. nefroideum Rost., 80. newtoni Macbr., 73. nicaraguense Macbr., 83. nigripes Link., 123. nodulosum Cy^<'. ©" Ba//., 76. notabile Macbr., 80. nucleatum /J^-a:, 72. nutans Pcrj., 75, 97. oblatum Macbr., 91. INDEX 297 ohlongum Fr., 78. obrusseum (Berk. & C.) Rost., 92. oclirolcucum Berk. & C, 57. ornatum Peck, 91. paniceutn Fr., 35. penetrale /Jta;, 70. /.^/criii Berk. & C, 66, 69, 92. phillipsn Balf., 41. physaroidcs Alb. & Schw., 139. plumbeum /"r., 59. polycephalum Scliiv., 95. polymorplium (Mont.) Rost., 80, 92. polymorplium Rost., 52. psittacinum DItm., 74. pulcherrimum Z?^r^. £f Rav., 68. pulchripes P^'f^, 69. pusillum List., 76. ravenelii (Berk. & C.) Mass., 68. reniforme List., 83. reticulatum Alb. & Schw., 49, 111. roseum fi^r/^. & Br., 100. rostafinskii Mass., 57. rubiginosum Chev., 62. rufipes Alb. & Schw., 69. schumacheri Spreng., 65. scyphoides Cke. & Balf., 105. serpula Morg., 49. sinuosum {Bull.) JVeinm., 52. straminipes List., 100, striatum Fries, 59. stromateum Link, 132. sulphureum (Alb. & Schw.) Sturg., 84. tenerum Rex., 77. tenerum Rex, 92. testaceum Sturg., 55. tliejoteum Fr., 62. tropicale Macbr., 82. utriculare (Bull.) Chev., 39. variabile /J^-at, 89. vernum Rost., 51. vermicularis Schw., 240. viride Pers., 98. '^'^\A^- / .^.^^ 'ifiiHr^^''"' /- 8b -- ', ■\^\ ft!l\|-| # ba \ \V M Cfir^ r .^ "v .So. ^m^- ?- 8 303 EXPLANATION OF PLATE II Pn'uliaina (orthalis (Batsch) Rnst., p. 243. Fig. \. Sporangia, X 10. Fig. \ a. A single spore, :i> if in section, X 900. Fig. 1 h. The capillitiai tlirtad, X 750. Laihnohnlus oiddintalis Macbr., p. 246. Fig. 2. The sporangia, X S. Fig. 2 a. A portion of the capillitiuin, X 750. Fig. 2 b. Spores, X 750. See also 4 and 4 a lielow. Arcyrhi cirtrrra (Bull.) Pers., p. 254. Fig. 3. The expanded fructifications, X 5. Fig. 3 a. rip of a single capillitium mass, X 40. Laclin(i])olus o<< iihnlalis Machr., p. 246. Fig. 4. A cluster of sporangia, X 3 ; cylindric type. Fig. A- a. Capillitium, X 750; to show characteristic surface of the threads. Arcyria dcnudata (Linn.) Pers., p. 253. Fig. 5. Sporangia, two expanded, one still closed, X 20. Fig. 5 a. A part of the capillitium of the same species, X 750. Arcyria nutans (Bull.) Grev., p. 249. Fig. 6. Expanded capillitium, etc., X 10. Fig. 6rt. Capillitium, X 750. Fig. 6 h. A piece of the capillitium thread, X 1400. Ophiollnra ii-ruihtii Berk. & C, p. 241. Fig. 7. A single sporangium, X 8. Fig. 7 a. A node of the capillitiai thread, X 750. Fig. 7 /;. A spore, X 750. OHijonrma nitens (Lib.) Rost., p. 280. Fig. 8. A single elater, X 750. Figs. 8 a and 8 b. Spores, X 1000. Badhamia truurocarpa Rost., p. 7. \'ar. (jracilis. Fig. 9. Two sporangia, X 600. 304 PLATE I] e.b ^B ->• mi ih ■I u ^m T V!r *'3u 4u ///' <^' 1 V\ > .^y ^/"^Ar #t^^ ■^"-..x % 4h |6"// {* 6 b 305 EXI'I.AXAllON OF PLATE III Ilnnitrhhia clavaUi (Pers.) Rost., p. 264. Fiji. !• riiifc >p()ian<;ia, one closed, X 8. Fig. 1 b. A single spore. X 1400. Iliiniliiiliia ■vispaiiu/ri (Batsch) Machr., p. 262. Fig. 2. Tip of the elater of capillitial thread, X 1400. Fig. 2 a. A single spore, X 1400. Tiich'ta ioivrnsis Macbr., p. 269. Fig. 3. A cluster of sporangia, X 5. Fig. 3 a. Tip of a branching elater, X 750. Fig. 3 b. A single spore, X 750. See also Plate X., Fig. 5. Hrmitricli'ta snpiila Scop., p. 260. Fig. 4. A plasrnodiocarp, X 3. Fig. 4rt. A single spore, X 1400. Fig. 4/;. An elater-tip, X 1400. Tridiia inconspuiia Rost., p. 268. Fig. 5. A cluster of sporangia, X 12. Fig. 5 a. Tip of an elater, X 1400. Fig. 5 b. A single spore, X 750. Pliysaruin ohlalum Maclir., p. 91. Fig. 6. A single sporangium, X 20; stipe sh(nvn of unusual length. Fig. 6 a. A single spore, X 1000. See also Plate XI\'., Fig. 3. Pliysarum aurlscalphtm (Cke.) Lister, p. 90. Fig. 7. A single sporangium, X 20 ; a New York specimen. Fig. 7 a. A single spore, X 1000. .Inyria nodulosa Macbr., p. 252. Fig. 8. Capillitial thread, X 1200. 306 PLATK 111 K \M U EXPLANATION OF I'LATE IV Tr'uliia prrsiiriilis Karst., p. 271. Fifz;. 1. Vuv. iiilcnnidia, X about 6. Fip;. 1 (I. Spore of same species, X 1400. Fig. 1 h. A second spore to show varyinjj; episporic networii. I'itj. 1 c. Fip of elater, shows \ertical connecting hands. Tr'uliia drci pirns (Pers.) Machr., p. 276. Fig. 2. Sporangia, X about 8. Fig. 2 a. .\ spore of the same species, X 1400. Fig. 2 /; and 2 c. Flaters of the same species, X about 225. Tridiia -varia (Pers.) Rost., p. 270. Fig. 3. Sporangia, X about 8. Fig. 3 a. A spore of the same species, X 1000. Fig. 3 b. An elater of the same species, X 750. Tridiia scalira Rost., p. 271. Fig. 4. Sporangia, X about 8. Fig. 4 a. A single spore of the same species, X 1400. Fig. 4 /;. An elater-tip of the same, X 1400. Tridiia favof/inra (Batsch) Pers., p. 272. Fig. 5. Sporangia, X about 8. Fig. S a. A single spore of the same, X 1400. Fig. 5 //. A single elater-tip of the same, X 1400. Tridiia prrsimilis Karst., \ar aliriipta Cke., p. 271. Fig. 6. An elater-tip, X 1400. It will be noticed that the spirals are connected by vertical bars. Fig. 6 a. A single spore of the same variety, X 1400. Fig, 6h. A single spore, from the same sporangium as 6 a. Fig. 6 c. Tridiia prrsimilis, a single spore, X 1400. Fig. G d. 'Fip of an elater from the same, X 1400. 308 PLATE IV J- ...liii. M ^•' vjji 309 EXPLANATION OF PLATE V Lam f^rodrrnui arcyiiniu'ina Rost., p. 197. Fig. \. A sint^le sporangium seen as if in section, X 40. I'ig. 1 a. A single spore, X 1400. l.amfiddrrma .uinlillans (Heri<. .*l: Br.) List., p. 195. Fig. 2. A single sporangium seen as in section, X 40. Fig. 2 a. A single spore, X 1400. r.ncrthnicma papiUatum (Pers.) Rost., p. 190. Fig. 3. An expanded, hlown-out sporangium, X 25. Lamprodirma robuslum V.W. k Ev., p. Fig. 4. A sporangium seen as in section, X 20. Fig. 4«. A single spore, X 1000. C.omatr'uha la.xa Rost., p. 177. Fig. 5. \ sporangium seen as if in section, X 40. Fig. 5 a. A single spore, X 2000. Diacliara tliomasit Rex, p. 188 Fig. 6. Three sporangia magnified about 15 times. Fig. 6 a. A single spore of the same species, X 800. Brefiid'ia maxima (Fries) Rost., p. 154. Fig. 7. A group of sporangia, showing columella?; X 5. Fig. 7 a. Capillitial threads of the same species, X 300. Fig. 7 h. Spore of the same species, X 1500. A maitrocliii'tr fulif/iiiosa (Sowb. ) Macbr., p. 149. Fig. 8. A bit of so-called capillitium, X 300. Fig. 8 a. A single spore magnified about 1000 tiines. PLATE V ^: }\ XA 2C3 ^•^ '\> r r *?^ .^v^;r- lL-^'^^^# 311 EXPLANATION OF PLA TE VI Comatricha typlioidrs (Hull.) Rost., p. 181. Fij:;. 1. A j^roup of sporangia, X 5. Fig. 1 a. A single spore, X 1600. Fig. 1 h. lip of the columella with its branches, X 50. C.dtnatr'u ha longa Peck, p. 175. Fig. 2. A single empty sporangium, X 6. Fig. 2 a. A part of the same taken near the apex, X 60. Fig. 2 h. A spore, X 1400. 'Comatr'ulia arqual'is Peck, p. 180. Fig. 3. A single sporangium, X 10. Fig. 3 a. The columella and capillitium, X 60. Fig. 3 h. A single spore, X 1600. Figs. 3 c and 3 d. Sporangia to which the peridi\im still adheres, although ii 3 c ill shreds. Stcmonilis fu.ua Rost., p. 160. Fig. 4. A group of sporangia, X 3. Fig. 4 rt. A part of the columella and capillitiiun, X 60. Fig. 4 b. A single spore, X 1400. Slcmonilis axifrra (Bull.) Macbr., p. 168. Fig. 5. A group of sporangia, X 3. Fig. b a. A single spore, X 1400. Fig. 5 /;. A part of the capillitium with columella, X 60. Strmonitis splrruir/is, p. 164. Fig. 6. A group of sporangia, X 3. Figs. 6 a and 6 c. Single spores, the latter X 1400. Fig. 6 b. A part of the columella and branches, X 60. Fig. 7. A shorter variety of the same species with coarser meshes in capil- litium, X 3. Fig. 7 a. A part of the columella and net, X 60. PLAl'E VI EXPLANATION OF PLATE VII Diaihara splnidrns Peck, p. 187. Fig. \. Sporangia aiui li\ pothallus, X 25. Fig. 1 a. Oapillitium, X 50. Fig. 1 /;. Spores, X 900. Fig. 1 c. Portion of the capillitiuin, X 150. Didyin'iutn iiit/ripis Fr., p. 123. Fig. 2. Sporangia, X 30. Fig. 2 a. A spore, X 1400. Fig. 2 b. Calcareous crystals from the peridial wall, X 750. Didym'iiiin mrlaiinsprnnum (Pers.) Macbr., p. 121. Fig. 3. Sporangia, X 10. Fig. 3 «. A single spore, X about 1000. DiJrrma Irsltuium (Schrad.) Pers., p. 137. Fig. 4. Sporangia; the first exhibiting the two peridial ^valls and the spore-mass, X 10. Fig. 4rt. Spore, X 750. Fig. 4/;. (\ipillitial threads, X 750. D'tdrnna (/lohnsuw Pers., p. 134. Fig. 5. Sporangia; the first with the outer peridiuiii broken awa_v, X 10. Fig. 5 a. A single spore, X 750. MiicUaijo spoju/insa (Leyss.) Morg., p. 114. Fig. 6. An a?thaliuin, borne on a grass-stem, natural size. Fig. 6 a. A spore, X 750. Fig. 6 b. Capillitium, \vith surface calcareous crystals, X 750. Didirina cnistadtim Peck, p. 13 5. Fig. 7. A mass of clustered sporangia, to show habit of aggregation, nat- ural size. Tuliifna frrnu/innsa (Batsch) Macbr., p. 206. Fig. 8. A single spore, X 1400. PLATi: \'I1 #.^ -wvw w.y 315 EXPLANATION OF PLATE VIII Didcnna ftnrifnnnr (Hull.) Pers., p. 143. Fig. 1. Sporangia of various ages, X 15. Fig. 1 a. Spore of the same species, X 1000. Fig. 1 b. A capillitial thread, X 1000. Pliysanini polyrrp/ialum Schw., p. 95. Fig. 2. The sporangia, X 10. Fig. 2 a. Spores, X 750. Fig. 2 b. Capillitium, X 750. Lcocarpus fragilis (Dicks.) Rost., p. 112. Fig. 3. Sporangia, X 6. Fig. 3 a. A group of sporangia, natural size, to show habit. Fig. Z b. A single spore, X 1800. Physarclla oblontja (Berk, k C.) Morg., p. 109. Fig. 4. A single sporangium, X 8. Figs. 4 a and 4 b. Capillitium and spore respectively, X 900. Cratnium leucoccplialum (Pers.) Ditmar, p. 105. Fig. 5. Sporangia, the first closed, X 10. Pliysarum slnuositin (Bull.) Weinm., p. 52. Fig. 6. Plasmodiocarp, natural size; 6 «, X 4; see also Plate XIX., Fig. 15. Pliysarum virescens Ditmar, p. 61. Fig. 7. Groups of sporangia, X 3 and X 8. Fig. 7 a. Spores, X 750. Pliysarum viriJr Pers., p. 98. Fig. 8. A single sporangium, X 25 ; ?, a, reverse. Fig. 8 b. The same after spore-dispersal. Fig. 8 c. Capillitium, X 750. 316 PLATi: \III 6 a > 317 EXPLANATION OF PLATE IX Pliysanim Jidnmoidrs (Ach.) Kost., p. 78. Fis;. 1. Sporaiij^ia, X 15. Fi,ix. 1 a. A s'mjile sporanijiium ojien ; shows calcareous capillitiLiin, X 15. Fig. 1 /;. Spores, X 900. Physaniin iiolahilr Marhr., p. 80. Fijj;. 2. A cluster of sporaiij^ia, X 15. Fiji. 2 a. A siiif^le sporangium open, X 15. Fig. 2 /;. Spores, X 900. See also Plate W., Figs. 2, 2 a, and the frontispiece. Pliystinim ronlixliun Pers., p. 56. Fig. 3. A group of sporangia, X 15. Fig. 3 a. Spores of the same, X 600. Pliysanim (inrreiim (Batsch) Pers., p. 59. Fig. 4. A group of sporangia, X 4. Fig. 4 a. A single sporangium, X 20. Fig. 4 /a Capillitium of the same, X 240. Fig. 4 c. Spores, X 450. Physanun alhr.s lo ) brri Rex, p. 163. Fig. 6. A group of sporangia, X 4. Fig. 7. A single sporangium as in section, X 40. Fig. 8. A single spore, same species, X 1250. Comatricha siiksdorfii Ell. & Ev., p. 178. F^ig. 9. A group of sporangia, X 4. Fig. 10. A hit of the capillitium, X 60. Fig. 11. A single spore, X 1600. Comatr'uha Ccrsf^itosa Sturg., p. 172. Fig. 12. A cluster of sporangia, X 4. Fig. 13. The capillitium highly magnified. Fig. 14. A single spore, X 1600. PLATK XI il ^S"-A^Ct^-^ -- z 4<^ %v >ijt 13 14 EXPLANATION OF PLATE XII Lindhladia rffiisa (Ehr.) Rost., p. 204. Fig. L Friictirtcation, natural size. Fig. 2. Portion of same in section, X 3. R,li(ular'ui lyropfiJo/i Bull., p. 210. Fig. 3. Residual capiilitial structiire, the spores lilown a\va\-; aliout nat- ural si/e. Lull- lid I urn spli-ndcns Morg., p. 211. Fig. 4. Fructification, a large one, natural si/e. Fig. 5. Same in section, X 3. Jrcyria fcrriKjima Sauter, p. 253. Fig. 6. Three sporangia, magnified about 10 times. Fig. 6 a. A single spore, magnified. Fig. 6 h. Capiilitial thread. Licca I'ariahilis Schrad., p. 200. Fig. 7. Sporangia, magnified about 6 times. Fig. 8. Spore, magnified to show surface characters. Tnbifira caspary'i (Rost.) Macbr., p. 207. Fig. 9. A group of sporangia; shows the pseudo-columellic ; X about 5. Licca hiforis Morg., p. 201. Fig. 10. Sporangia dehiscent, magnified about 10 times. Orcadclla opcrcitlala U'ing., p. 203. Fig. 11. Sporangia, magnified about 30 times. Crihraria argillacca Pers., p. 218. Fig. 12. Sporangia, magnified about 10 times. Fig. 13. A single sporangium, X about 40. See also Plate XVIL, Fig. 1. Tuhifera ferruginosa (Batsch) Macbr., p. 206. Fig. 14. Sporangia magnified to show apiculate tops. Cf. C.omatricha cllisii Morg., p. 184. Fig. 15. Sporangium, X 40. Fig. 15 a. A single spore, X 1000. Co /rial rich a pulc/iclla (Bab.) Rost., p. 183; vid. p. 284. Fig. 16. Sporangium, X 20. Fig. 16 a. A single spore, X 1000. Corriatriclia suhcacspitosa Peck, p. 282. Fig. 17. Sporangium, X 20. Fig. Ma. A single spore, X 1000. Coinatricha (jiacilis \\'ingate, p. 184. Fig. 18. Sporangium, X 20. Fig. 18 a. A single spore, X 1000. 324 PLATE XII ^MSi» I) U-'^]'V / "■\ m *^^ 325 EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIII llrtrrolr'uhia i/ahyirlLr Ma^s., p. 257. Fig. 1. A Rroup of sporangia, one expanded, the others empty, X 15. Fig. 1 a. Capillitiiim of the species, X 600. C.alomma aiinum Morg., p. 266. Fig. 2. A cluster of sporangia, magnified about 15 times. Fig. 2 a. The tip of an elater of the same species, X 1000. Fig. 2 h. A single spore, X 1000. Fig. 2 c. A bit of the sporangium wall, X 600. Stcmonitis pallida Wing., p. 169. Fig. 3. Sporangia, magnified about 5 times. Comal) icha pulchclla (Hab. ) Rost., form C. pcrsoojtii R,, p. 183 Fig. 4. Sporangia, magnified about 15 times. See Addenda, d, p 283. Strmonitis carolinnisis Macbr., p. 170. Fig. 5. Sporangia, magnified about 5 times. (Uastodcrma deharyanutn Bl\tt., p. 191. Fig. 6. Sporangium, magnified about 60 times. Truliia , ■, --i fj r,.3jS&5^5*^-«^ /A' ■:^' < S'o? ; % 327 EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIV Badliamia magna Peck., p. 38. Fig. 1. A cluster of sporangia, X 10. Cinikrniskia rrlicalala (Alb. c;itsc'h, p. 230. Fig. 1. The finest pliase, as the turm appears in the Mississippi valles', X 15. Fig. 1 a. Sp()raii<;iiiin of the same seen from be]o\v, X 3 5. Fig. 1 /;. Sporangium — same — seen from above, X 3 5. Fig. 1 r. Cribraria-like net from the top, X 200. Fig. 2. A'ertical section of Avhat is believed the typical European form, X 20. Fig. 3. An ellipsoidal piriform phase — var. prolaltim, X 15. irum (omprrssum Alb. .^- Schw. form /'. affiiu- Rost., p. 80. A group of sporangia, X 12. A single spore, X 600. Capillitium, same species, X 300. .Ihi-isia homharda lierk. .^- Hr., p. 209. Open sporangia, X 6. Sporangium of saine enlarged to sho^v capillitium, X 20. Crihraria duty diodes Cke. & Balf., p. 222. A group of sporangia, X 6. Single sporangium of same — lateral view, X 25. Same; base view, X 30. Crihraria aurantiaca Schrad., p. 221. Single sporangium, X 30. Crihraria nifa (Roth) Rost., p. 220. Sporangium, X 30. Crihraria piriformis Schrad., p. 224. Sporangium, X 30. Crihraria splrndrns (Schrad.) Pers., p. 221. Sporangium, X 30. Kchinostclium miniilum DeBx., p. 198. Several sporangia, X 15. \"ertical section, after Rost., X 500. Physarum (omprrssiim Schw., p. 80. Fig. 12. Sporangium, X 20, to show dehiscence. Didyiniiitn anoinaliini Sturg., p. 127. Fig. 13. Plasmodiocarps, about natural size. Fig. 13 a. Diagrammatic vertical section, etc., to show the calciferous pillars distinguishing the species, X 200. Fig. 14. Calcic crystal — enlarged. Physarum sinuosum (Hull.) Wiiinn., p. 52. Fig. 15. Plasmodiocarps passing to sporangia, X 5. Cf. Plate VIII., 6 and 6 a. Physarum hilrdum List., p. 53. Fig. 16. Plasmodiocarps as in 15, showing transioiial phases, X 10. Phy Fig. 4. Fig. 4rt. Fig. 4/;. Fig. 5. Fig. 5 a. Fig. 6. Fig. 6rt. Fig. 6/;. Fig. 7. Fig. 8. Fig. 9. Fig. 10. Fig. 11. Fig. 11 a. 338 PLATE XIX £141 ^]^^. ial ^'^^f^^ un ;ia, X 20. Fig. 2 a. Caiiillitiuiii, X 200. Physanim discoidalc n. s., p. 74. Fig. 3. A group of sporangia, X 10. Fig. 3 (t. A single spore, X 800. Didyiniiim an nil I alum n. s., p. 125. Fig. 4. Ciroup of sporangia, X 15. Fig. 4 a. Capillitiuni and spores, X 200. Olif/onrma hrr-vifiliun Peck, p. 280. Fig. 5. Capillitium, X 800. Fig. 5 a. The same. Fig. 12/;. A single spore, X 800. Amaurocliacte tubulina (Alh. & Schw.) Machr., p. 150. Fig. 6. Capillitium and spores, X 200. Fig. 6 a. Spore, X 1200. Pliysarum hruniifo/iim (Phill.) Mass., p. 58. Fig. 7. Group of sporangia. Fig. 7 a. The same, mature, dehiscence beginning, X 10. Fig. 7 b. A single spore, X 800. Stcmonilis itvifcra n. s., p. 161. Fig. 8. Colony, natural size. Fig. 8 a. Capillitium ami spore-clusters, X 30. Fig. 8 h. Single spore-cluster, X 600. Fig. 8 r. Spore, X 1000. Stnnonilis trecliispora Berk., p. 160. Fig. 9. Fructification — natural size. Fig. 9 a. Capillitium, branch and threads, X 20 — the spores enlarged. Fig. 9 h. Netted spore, X 1000. Masking as an amaurochete; .7. tnr/ii- spora perhaps; compare 11, etc., below. Strmonitis flavnginila Jahn, p. 169. Fig. 10. A group of sporangia, X 3. Fig. 10 «. Capillitium sho\ving columella-tip, X 50. Fig. 10 b. Spore, X 1200. Stemonitis trecliispora (Berk.) Torr., p. 159. Fig. 11. A group of sporangia, X 3. Fig. \\ a. Diagram of a single sporangium, a less rudimentar\ specimen, X 40. Fig. 11 b. Capillitium enlarged to show branching columella, X 40. Fig. llr. A single spore, X 1200. .Inyria poniiforniis (Leers) Rost., p. 255. Fig. 12. A globose colony of sporangia, X 10; \ar. com/lnbosa. Fig. 12 /;. See under 5, above. 340 I'l.A'ii: XX W •5^ 3a \ '''».k a^^ -'^^v^.^. Uc ub EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXI Brrfrldia maxima (Fr.) Rost., p. 154. A typical, beautiful afthalium, about natural size. 342 PLAIK XXI EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXII Brefeldia jnaxima Rost., p. 15+. Fig. L Plasmodium active; climbing the stump. Fig. 2. Same plasmodiiim urgent; moving at the rate of 2 cm. per minute. From photo-prints by Mr. W. A. Seaman and Mr. John F. Reeder, Mich. The figures are about one-sixth the natural size of the object. See piate preceding for the mature phase of this species, natural size. 34+ PLATK XXII 345 EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXIII Fuliffo cincrea (Schw.) Morg., p. 26. \. The Plasmodium; urgent! 2. The perfected fruit; quiescent. The figures present their objects about natural size. See also Plate X. Figs. 3, 3 a, 3 h, for further illustration. From photo-prints by John T. Reeder, Mich. 346 PLATE XXIII 347 nOrERTY LIBRARY N. C. State College