26 THE MYXOMYCETES 



polycephalum, in its development, goes through a badhamioid stage. 

 We are therefore justified in regarding Badhamia as the more prim- 

 itive of the two genera. Usually the distinction is readily apparent 

 in the mature sporangia. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF BADHAMIA 



a. Spores adherent in firm, globose clusters b 



a. Spores free or only slightly and irregularly adherent / 



b. Spores elliptical or oval 1. B. versicolor 



b. Spores spherical or pyriform c 



c. Sporangia yellow 2. B. nilens 



c. Sporangia gray or white d 



d. Stipitate, rarely sessile; stipe short, dark 3. B. papaveracea 



d. Usually sessile; stipe, when present, yellow or straw 



colored e 



e. Sporangia gray, walls thin, translucent, white when empty; 



spores warted 4. B. capsulifera 



e. Sporangia white, rarely pale rose, calcareous; spores some- 

 times marked by bands or ridges 5. B. populina 



f. Spores tending to adhere somewhat, but not in regular 



clusters; iridescent 6. B. utricularis 



f. Spores wholly free g 



g. Spores ovoid; sporangia white or ochraceous, minute 8. B. ovispora 



g. Spores typically spherical h 



h. Sporangia yellow or yellowish * 



h. Sporangia gray, white or iridescent j 



h. Sporangia pale lilac or brown r 



i. Sessile; dull yellow 9. B. decipiens 



i. Stipitate; yellow-green or gray with a yellow base 10. B. viridescens 



j. Spores warted with overlying coarse reticulation 14. B. gracilis 



j. Spores not reticulate k 



k. Sporangia flattened; discoidal to annulate or plasmodio- 



carpous 12. B. orbiculata 



k. Sporangia not greatly flattened, pulvinate, hemispherical or 



subspherical / 



/. Sporangia gray, iridescent, borne on long, slender, flaccid, 



straw-colored stalks 7. B. magna 



I. Stipes shorter, or lacking m 



m. Spores usually over 15 n 11. B. qffinis 



m. Spores usually under 15 n n 



n. Sporangia ashy, heaped; spores very dark, coarsely and 



densely spiny 15. B. cinerescens 



n. Sporangia paler; spores more finely spinulose o 



o. Sporangia white, stained with yellow or brown below; spores 



dark, spinulose, 12-15 /x 13. B. macrocarpa 



o. Sporangia without yellowish stains; spores paler, smoother 



and smaller p 



p. Capillitium dense, usually massed in center to form a 



pseudocolumella 16. B. panicea 



p. Capillitium less dense, not forming a pseudocolumella q 



