156 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1889. 



Notes on Enteridium Eozeanum — Mr. Harold Wingate pre- 

 sented verbally the following- description of the species: — 



Exteridicm Rozeaxum (Rki.), Retieularia (?) Rozeana Rki., 

 Monogr. Sup., No. 179. — Aethalium of irregular shape, globose, ovoid 

 or rounded-pyramidal, attached to the substratum by a wide base. 

 Variable in size from 5 to 30 M. in diameter. Cortex and mass of 

 spores ferruginous-brown ; occasionally the cortex shining ; sometimes 

 membranaceous, pellucid. Interior structure very variable, the 

 walls of the individual sporangia (which form a capillitium), mem- 

 branaceous, pellucid, band-like, combined into an all-sided network 

 attached uniformly to all sides of the cortex. The bands have tri- 

 angular or polygonal expansions at the angles where they join each 

 other. Spores globose, about two-thirds of the surface covered 

 with a delicate, regular, fine-meshed network, the remainder with 

 .simple warts or elongated ridges. The warted portion has the 

 outline of a wide spindle, the points of the spindle lying at the 

 poles of the little sphere. Spores measure 7*5-9 ink. Found fre- 

 quently in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa. 



The spaces in the capillitium, which represent the individual 

 sporangia of the aethalium, have about the same dimensions in the 

 same plant, but vary considerably, comparing one specimen with 

 another. The extremes of variation may be expressed by the pro- 

 portion 1 to 10. Sometimes the bands of the capillitium are very 

 much lacerated longitudinally, and form a filamentous mass, where 

 the characteristic structure of the genus is entirely lost after the 

 dispersal of the spores. Capillitium yellowish under the microscope. 



This plant has a rather interesting history. Mr. Ernest Roze, of 

 Paris, studied the development of the myxomycetes quite a number 

 of years ago by a method of culture which consisted of using 

 earthenware dishes filled with sphagnum and water, into which he 

 thrust dead branches of trees, pieces of rotting stumps, etc., which 

 he brought from the woods in the neighborhood of Paris. He ob- 

 tained by this method various plasmodia, studied them up to their 

 fructification, and in the "Bulletin de la Soeiete Botanique de 

 France" (Tomes xix and xx), he gave the results of his experi- 

 ments and his ideas upon the group. 



In the spring of 1875 Mr. Roze obtained by culture a plasmodium, 

 which, if his memory does not deceive him, was white. This pro- 

 duced aethalia which he was unable to identify, so he placed them 

 aside for future study. Towards the end of the year, Dr. Rosta- 

 finski, who had in preparation his monograph, visited Paris, and 

 examined among other collections there, that of Mr. Roze. Among 

 numerous plants offered him for inspection, were the above men- 

 tioned aethalia which struck his attention immediately. He ex- 

 pressed his surprise to Mr. Roze, who told him to take the plants 

 with him. This he did, but no description of this myxomycete ap- 

 peared in the monograph, owing, probably, to the limited quantity 

 of the material, and, as Mr. Roze suggested, the possibility of the 

 plant being abnormal from the manner of its production. 



