62 . THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS 



suggests Didyminm in its general form and trend, but the 

 distribution of the lime is physaroid. 



Probably common everywhere. New England, Canada, 

 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska, Louisiana, Nicaragua, 

 Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada. 



4. Badhamia Rostafinski. 



Sporangia simple ; peridial wall simple, thin, breaking irregu- 

 larly ; capillitium formed of abundant, richly anastomosing 

 tubules, filled throughout their entire length with calcareous 

 granules ; the nodes often feebly represented ; stipe poorly 

 developed or wanting entirely ; columella, except in forms here 

 assigned to the sub-genus Scyphinm, poorly developed or none. 



This genus is closely related to PJiysamm, but differs in 

 having the capillitium calcareous throughout. Forms occur 

 and are included here, in which the capillitium, especially in 

 some parts, is PAysarum-like. Nevertheless, the distinctions 

 hold good as a rule, and are at once diagnostic. Berkeley's 

 idea of the genus was expressed as follows : " Peridium naked 

 or furfuraceous. Spores in groups, enclosed, at first, in a 

 hyaline sack." Rostafinski (Mon., p. 139), while accepting 

 Berkeley's generic name, redefined it, emphasized the calcare- 

 ous capillitium, and made reference to the spore-adherence only 

 to assert that Berkeley's description was, in this particular, 

 based on mistaken observation. In some species, the spores 

 do in fact show a tendency to cling together, a characteristic 

 which Badham was perhaps first to notice ; but that this is occa- 

 sioned by their being surrounded by a sac or common pellicle 

 has not been proved, nor even suggested, by any subsequent 

 investigator. Berkeley's genus was therefore founded upon a 

 mistake, a misapprehension, and his rights in the premises lapse 

 altogether, and we write Badhamia Rostafinski. 



Our species of Badhamia fall naturally into two groups, 

 according to the degree of development presented by stipe 

 and columella, differences hardly sufficient to mark two genera, 



