72 ENDOSPORE.E. [CRATERIUM. 



The specimen from Paraguay named Did-ymium paraguayense Speg. 

 (B.M. 1002) has rather larger sporangia, and these with the capillitium 

 and spores are of a brighter colour than the type from Louisiana, but 

 in other respects they are identical. This species is closely allied to 

 Physarum Newtoni Macbr. 



Hab. On leaves. Louisiana U.S.A. (L:B.M. 47) ; Paraguay (B. M. 

 1002.) 



4. C. leucocephalum. Ditm., in Sturm, Deutsch. FL, Pilze, p. 21, 

 t. 11 (1813). Plasmodium rich yellow, among dead leaves. Total 

 height 1 mm. Sporangia ovoid or fcurbinate, stipitate, erect, 

 0*7 mm. high, 0'5 mm. broad, red-brown with white incrustations 

 of lime and scattered yellow warts on the upper half. Lid white, 

 convex, continuous with the wall of the cup. Sporangium-wall 

 thin, consisting of two closely connected layers, the outer yellow, 

 the upper part provided with scattered lime-deposits and beset with 

 shallow, often colourless pits, containing dense aggregations of 

 white lime-granules, usually in company with yellow crystalline 

 disc-shaped bodies ; the lower part cartilaginous, translucent, of 

 deeper colour, and continued into the translucent stalk ; the inner 

 layer membranous and colourless. Stalk equal, plicate, 0'3 to 

 0'5 mm. long, red-brown, cartilaginous, rising from a circular 

 hypothallus. Columella represented by a central mass of confluent 

 lime-knots. Capillitium of large, irregularly shaped, white or 

 yellowish lime-knots, connected by yellow, branching, hyaline 

 threads, with frequent flattened expansions at the axils. Spores 

 violet-brown, spinulose, 7 to 9 /a diarn. Host., Mon., p. 123; 

 Cooke, Myx. Brit., p. 19 ; Mass., Mon., p. 267 ; Blytt, Bidr. Norg., 

 Sop. iii., p. 5 ; Macbride, in Bull. Nat. Hist. Iowa, ii., p. 154. 

 Stemonitis leucocephala~Pers., in Gmel., Syst. Nat., p. 1467 (1791). 

 Physarum scyphoides Cooke & Balf., in Rav., Fungi Amer., 480 ; 

 Mass., Journ. Myc., v., p. 186, PI. xiv., fig. 7 ; Mass., Mon., 

 p. 282. Craterium pruinosum Corda, Ic., v., p. 13, t. ii., f. 33. 

 C. minimum Berk. &; Curt., in Grev., ii., p. 67 ; Mass., Mon., 

 p. 272. C. Fuckelii Mass., Mon., p. 272. C. cylindricum Mass., 

 Mon., p. 268. 



Plate XXVII., B. a. to e. sporangia of various forms, x 20 ; /. capil- 

 litium, with pseudo-columella, x 35 ; g. sporangium- wall, showing crystal- 

 line bodies, and spores, x 280 ; //. spore, x 600 (England) ; i. cylindrical 

 sporangium, x 20 (United States) ; h. sporangium, from type of Physarum 

 xc)/j>hoides, Cooke & Ralf., x 20 ; I. vertical view of half-empty sporangium 

 from the same gathering, showing pseudo-columella, x 20 (Georgia, U.S.A.). 



The yellow crystalline bodies are a marked feature in this species. 

 They are frequently absent from the sporangium-wall, but can be 

 detected in the large lime-knots and in the columella by treating with 

 hydrochloric acid, when they remain after the lime-granules are 

 dissolved. In the delicate cylindrical sporangia, in which the double 

 layer of the wall can scarcely be distinguished, they are to be found 

 only in the columella, and are sometimes entirely wanting. Those in the 

 wall are either nearly superficial and can easily be detached, or are 

 embedded in its substance ; they are usually disc-shaped, measuring 

 15 to 40 p, diam., with a crenate margin, and marked with lines radiating 



