Cribraria 195 



the present species with large, irregular spores and more pro- 

 nounced nodes. A collection personally made in Sussex County, 

 New Jersey, was on a rotten log almost completely immersed in 

 the water of a swamp, and is identical with the type material of 

 C. oregana. Such forms develop under adverse conditions of 

 moisture. 



8. Cribraria intricata Schrad. Nov. Gen. PI. 7. 1797. 



Plasmodium lead-colored or brownish black (Lister). Total 

 height 1.5 to 3 mm. Sporangia gregarious, often forming large 

 colonies, stalked, globose, nodding or erect, 0.5 to 0.7 mm. diam., 

 ochraceous brown; cup one third the height of the sporangium, 

 yellowish brown, studded with brown plasmodic granules 0.5-2 /x 

 diam., arranged in close lines radiating from the base of the 

 sporangium; margin toothed; net close, regular; nodes numerous, 

 dark brown, thickened, prominent, polygonal, often branching, 

 connected by five to eight very slender threads, and with many 

 free rays. Stalk subulate, two to four times the height of the 

 sporangium, dark brown. Spores ochraceous, nearly smooth 

 or faintly warted, 5-6 n diam. (Plate 16, fig. 10.) 



Var. dictydioides (Cooke & Balf.) Lister, Mycetozoa 144. 1894. 

 Cribraria dictydioides Cooke & Balf.; Massee, Men. 65. 1892. (N. Y. B. G. 

 nos. 5394, 5395, type material.) 



Cup more or less obsolete; nodes in the lower part of the net 

 elongate and confluent, forming ribs converging to the apex of 

 the stalk. 



Type locality: Europe. 



Habitat: On dead wood. 



Distribution: Common and usually abundant in North 

 America. 



Illustration: Lister, Mycetozoa ed. 3. pi. 143, figs. a-e. 



The conception that C. intricata is restricted to forms with 

 double threads to the net is not accepted by the great majority 

 of students. Such forms, if they exist, are generally regarded 

 as anomalous. I have never seen any. Var. dictydioides is 

 separated from typical C. intricata by the more or less obsolete 

 condition of the cup; and both forms from C. tenella by the shape 

 of the nodes. To distinguish them is often a matter of difficulty 

 or personal opinion as there are no sharp lines. They merge into 

 each other with all sorts of gradations, and a single colony may be 



