Amaurochaete 1 83 



1. Amaurochaete fuliginosa (Sow.) Macbr. N. A. Slime-Moulds 

 ' 109. 1899. 



Lycoperdon fuliginosum Sow. Engl. Fungi pi. 257. 1803. 

 Lycogala atrum Alb. & Schw. Consp. Fung. 83. 1805. 

 Reticularia atra (Alb. & Schw.) Fries, Syst. Myc. 3: 86. 1829. 

 Amaurochaete atra (Alb. & Schw.) Rost. Versuch 8. 1873. 



Plasmodium cream-white (Lister). Aethalium pulvinate on a 

 broad base, 1 to 8 cm. diam., rarely subglobose, 0.5 to 1 cm. diam., 

 and attached to the habitat by a slender stalk-like strand of 

 hypothallus, glossy purplish black; cortex divided by thinner lines 

 into polygonal areolae, 0.4 to 0.8 mm. diam., representing the 

 summits of the component sporangia. Columellae of black, rigid, 

 flattened strands, forked and anastomosing, rising from a dark, 

 purplish, membranous base. Capillitium of irregular, dark 

 strands branching repeatedly at acute angles and anastomosing, 

 the ultimate branchlets slender. Spores dark brownish purple at 

 first, fading to paler or purplish gray, paler on one side, minutely 

 spinulose, 11-14 jj. diam. 



Type locality: England. 



Habitat: On dead coniferous wood. 



Distribution: Colorado, Maine, New Jersey, New York, 

 *Ohio, *Ontario, *Oregon. 



Illustration: Lister, Mycetozoa ed. 3. pi. 136, figs. a-c. 



I have found this species twice in Maine and three times on 

 Long Island, New York, yet it seems to be rarely collected. The 

 spores vary occasionally from the sizes given and the color fades 

 to lighter, so that these characters cannot be taken as absolutely 

 determinative. 



2. Amaurochaete cribrosa (Fries) Sturg. Mycologia 9: 328. 

 1917. 



Lachnobolus cribrosus Fries, Syst. Orb. Veg. 1: 14:8. 1825. 

 Amaurochaete Tubulina Macbr. N. A. Slime-Moulds ed. 2. 150. 1922. 



Plasmodium watery white (Lister). Aethalia subglobose or 

 pulvinate, 1 to 4 cm. diam., glossy black, sessile, rarely stalked; 

 sporangial walls represented by the polygonal areolae of the pur- 

 plish, membranous cortex. Columellae numerous, less stout than 

 in A. fuliginosa, branched and anastomosing, dividing above into 

 the capillitium which forms an elastic network of dark, arcuate 



