76 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS 



tinguished by the color, which is red throughout, tinged with 

 purple or violet. The capillitium is Badhamia-\\kQ, as noted by 

 Dr. Rex. Very distinct from P. newtoni in color, form, habit, 

 epispore, etc. 



All the specimens seen so far are from one gathering, 

 Louisiana (A. B. Langlois). 



4. CRATERIUM LEUCOCEPHALUM (Pers.) Ditmar. 



PLATE VIII., Fig. 5. 



1791. Stemonitis leiicocephala Persoon, Gmelin, Syst. Nat., II., p. 1467. 



I So i. Arcyria? leucocephala Persoon, Syn. Fung., p. 183. 



1 80 1. Craterium? leticocephahun, Persoon, Syn. Fung., p. 184. 



1813. Craterium leucocephalian (Pers.) Ditmar., Sturm, Deutsch. Flora, 

 Pilzc, p. 21, PL ii. 



1889. Physarum scyphoides Cke. and Balf., Massee, Jour. Myc., V., 

 p. 1 86. (?) 



1896. Craterium convivale (Batsch) Morgan, Jour. Cin. Soc., p. 86. 



Sporangia gregarious, short cylindric or ovate, pure white 

 above, brown or reddish brown below, stipitate, dehiscence 

 irregularly circumscissile, the persistent portion of the perid- 

 ium beaker-shaped; stipe short, stout, expanded above into 

 the base of the peridium with which it is concolorous ; hypo- 

 thallus scant ; capillitium white or sometimes, toward the centre, 

 brownish, the calcareous nodules large, conspicuous, and per- 

 sistent; spore-mass black, spores violaceous brown, minutely 

 spinulose, 8-9 p. 



Distinguished by its white cap from all except the next, from 

 which the markedly different form serves as the diagnostic 

 feature. In some gatherings, curious patches of yellow mark the 

 otherwise snow white cap and sides ; these are mere stains, 

 sometimes definite, crystalline, flake-like bodies, standing out in 

 plain relief on the sporangial wall, or lurking in the larger nod- 

 ules which are massed along the axis of the cup to form the 

 pseudo-columella, here strongly developed. Mr. Lister calls 

 attention to these yellow flakes, and regards them as diagnostic. 



The nomenclature question is here somewhat difficult. Fries 

 heads his list of synonyms with Pcziza convivalis Batsch. 



