74 Mycetozoa of North America 



Illustration: Lister, Mycetozoa ed. 3. pi. 59. 



This species forms small developments and is not common. 

 From P. lateritium it is distinguished by the larger sporangia, the 

 smoother walls, and the coarse, angular lime-knots. 



56. Physarum auriscalpium Cooke, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. 

 11:384. 1877. 



Plasmodium? Sporangia gregarious or clustered and angled 

 by mutual pressure, sessile, rarely with traces of short stalks, 

 circular to irregular shapes, pulvinate or depressed, 0.5 to 1.2 mm. 

 diam., or forming short, curved or straight plasmodiocarps, mot- 

 tled with brown, red, yellow, or white, with a dark red or brown 

 inner base; sporangial wall membranous, firmer and persistent 

 below, yellow, speckled on the outside with large, separated, 

 clusters of reddish, yellowish, or white lime-granules. Capilli- 

 tium consisting of many large, angular, branched, or netted lime- 

 knots, yellow, pale yellow, or nearly white, rarely tinged with red, 

 connected by long or short hyaline threads. Spores violet-brown, 

 spinulose, 9-12 ji diam. 



Type locality: South Carolina. 



Habitat: On dead wood. 



Distribution: Colorado, Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, New 

 York, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, *South Carolina. 



Illustration: Lister, Mycetozoa ed. 3. pi. 33. 



This species forms small, solitary colonies, and is not rare, as is 

 indicated by 30 collections from the States mentioned. It is a 

 sessile form, practically, rarely with traces of stalks, which may 

 be regarded as obsolete. P. oblatum, which the Listers regard as 

 synonymous with P. auriscalpium, sometimes forms sessile spo- 

 rangia, or sporangia with short stalks, but the sporangia are not 

 flattened nor mottled. The speckled appearance of the sporangia 

 of P. auriscalpium, due to the vari-colored clusters of lime- 

 granules on the outside of the wall, distinguish it from every 

 related species of Physarum except P. Braunianum. The form 

 is constant in the important characters given, which make it so 

 different that it cannot logically be combined with P. oblahim. 

 Some yellow phases have at times been regarded by students as 

 Badhamia decipiens, but it is not a Badhamia, and, while the 

 capillitium may appear Badhamia-Vike occasionally, there are 

 always short threads present, and when the lime-knots are 



