Notes uiJon Physarum carneum G. Lister and Stiirgis. 267 



and 0*4-0 '6 mm. in diam. Sessile globose forms, and also plas- 

 modiocarps, were found. 



In the type-specimens the stalks are flesh-red in colour and 

 almost translucent, but in the grey almost limeless sporangia the 

 stalks are orange-brown and enclose refuse matter. The spores are 

 purplish-brown, spinulose, 8/a in diam., with a smoother patch on one 

 side, marking, as in many other species, where dehiscence would 

 occur in germination. 



In some of the Norfolk specimens the capillitium shows small 

 white or pale yellow lime-knots, with a network of hyaline con- 

 necting threads ; in others the capillitium is stouter and almost 

 Badha7nia-\ike in character. 



Previous to the recent gathering only one other European 

 specimen was known ; this was found by the Eev. C. Torrendin the 

 grounds of Collegia de Campolide, Lisbon, in December, 1907. 

 Dr. Torrend's specimens are pale buff, paler than are the type, but 

 not paler than the lightest Norfolk ones ; the sporangia-walls 

 are not so strongly thickened below, and are less deep orange when 

 mounted. The stalks also are pale pinkish-buff, with deposits of 

 nearly white lime-granules in the walls. Some of the Norfolk 

 specimens rise from a cii'cular, white hypothallus. Miss Lister 

 remarks: "Torrend's specimen was puzzling to us when we 

 received it ; only a few sporangia were sent ; we tried to put it 

 into Craterium aureum, but it was never liappy there." 



Another new find for Norfolk was a fine gathering of Physarum 

 ■penetrale Eex. This was made in July in Dunston Woods, near 

 Norwich. The beautiful rich orange-yellow colour of the immature 

 sporangia made them more easily seen ; in the greenish-grey ripe 

 state they are not so readily noticed. A second gathering of this 

 species was made a week later in the woods referred to at the 

 beginning of this paper. In both cases the unripe sporangia were 

 found on old bracken stems in the middle of a tall clump of grow- 

 ing brakes. Other records for P. penetrale are Luton, Beds. (Miss 

 Higgins) ; Lisbon ; near Paris (Dr. Ledoux Lebard) ; Jura Moun- 

 tains ; Switzerland (C. Meylan) ; Ohio ; Knysna, Cape Province 

 (Miss A. V. Duthrie). 



Physarum lateritium (Berk, and Eav.) Morgan was another 

 rarity (on dead wood at Dunston), which has only been recorded 

 once before in Britain (by A. Camm, on holly-leaves at Smethwick, 

 in Staffordshire). The only other European gathering recorded is 

 the type of P. Braunianum De Bary ; this was found on moss in 

 Griinewald, near Berlin, in June, 1852, and, according to the 

 second edition of the B.M. ]\Ionograph, it is questionable whether 

 it should be placed with P. virescens or P. lateritmm. 



The Plasmodium of the small Dunston gathering was orange- 

 yellow, a fact not previously recorded. P. lateritium appears to 

 be fairly common in the tropics, and Miss Lister informs me 



T 2 



