1 8 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS 



obscure, if indeed any really exist. Are these minute repro- 

 ductive bodies spores? their behavior on germination is unique ; 

 are they sporangia ? --the arrested development they exhibit 

 is none the less puzzling. Perhaps the sporiferous pillars repre- 

 sent incipient stipes, the spores the uncombined fragments of 

 what might otherwise have coalesced at the summit of the 

 pillar to form a true sporangium. 



Several species have been recognized, all referable probably 

 to one or at most two forms : 



i. CERATIOMYXA FRUTICULOSA (Mnell.') Macbr. 



PLATE I., Figs. 7 and 7 a. 



1729. Pnccinia ramosa bifurcata, etc. Micheli, p. 213, Tab. 92, Fig. 2. 



1775. Byssus fruticulosa Mueller in Fl. Dan., t. 718, Fig. 2. 



1778. Tremella hydnoidea Jacquin, Misc., Vol. I., t. 16. 



1783. Clavaria puccinia Batsch, Elench. Fung., p. 139, Fig. 19. 



1791. Puccinia byssoides Gmelin, Syst. Natures, p. 1462. 



1791. Clauaria byssoides Bulliard, Champ, de la France, t. 415, Fig. 2. 



1794. Isaria mucida Pers., Romer, N. Mag. Bot., I., p. 121. 



1801. Isaria mucida Pers., Syn. Meth., p. 688. 



1805. Ceratinm hydnoides Alb. and Schw., Consp. Fung., p. 358. 



1829. Ceratinm hydnoides Fries, Syst. Myc., p. 294. 



1872. Ceratium hydnoides Woronin and Famintzin, Mem. Acad. Imp., 

 St. Petersburg. 



1887. Ceratium hydnoides De Bary, Comp. Morph. Fun., p. 432. 



1889. Ceratiomyxa mucida Schroeter, Engl. u. Prantl Nat. Pflanz., 

 I. i., p. 16. 



1893. Ceratiomyxa mucida Macbride, Bull. A r at. Hist. Iowa, II., p. 114. 



1894. Ceratiomyxa mucida Lister, The Mycetosoa, p. 25. 



Plasmodium in rotten wood, white or nearly transparent ; 

 when fruiting, forming on the substratum mould-like patches 

 composed of the minute sporiferous pillars, generally in clusters 

 of three or more together; spores white, ovoid or ellipsoidal, 

 smooth, 10-12 x 6 p. 



Rather rare, but occurring in summer on shaded rotten logs, 

 especially after warm showers and in sultry weather. Easily 

 distinguishable from all similar moulds by the absence of 

 mycelium or of anything like a hypha. In the Old World the 



