40 THE MYXOMYCETES 



3. Erionema Penzig 

 Myx. Buitenzorg 36. 1898. 



Sporangia plasmodiocarpous, cylindrical, simple or branched; cap- 

 illitium a network of slender colorless threads, elastic; nodules few and 

 small. 



Erionema aukeum Penzig 



Myx. Buitenzorg 37. 1898. 



Sporangia elongate, clustered, pendulous, yellow or grayish yellow, 

 generally stipitate on long flaccid stalks, or sessile and interlacing; 

 stipes yellow, blending with the hypothallus; capillitium intricate, 

 expanding at maturity after the manner of Arcyria to several times 

 the sporangial length, the nodules small, yellow; spores nearly smooth, 

 violaceous brown, 5-6 ix. 



This unique form is near the fuligos, which it closely resembles, 

 especially when sessile. The spores also are much like those of the 

 common Fuligo septica. The habit is, however, entirely different. 

 Petch described clusters in Ceylon, hanging free, four to six cm. in 

 length ! 



Known only from Japan, Java, Malay Peninsula and Ceylon. 



4. Physarum Per soon emend. Rost. 



Mon. 93. 1875. 

 1794. Physarum Pers., Roemer N. Mag. Bot. 1 : 88, in part. 



Sporangia distinct or plasmodiocarpous, rarely almost aethalioid; 

 peridium usually simple, sometimes double, irregularly dehiscent, 

 more or less calcareous; capillitium in the form of a uniform but ir- 

 regular network of calcareous nodules connected by hyaline thread-like 

 tubules, adherent on all sides to the peridial wall. 



The distinctive characters are the structure of the capillitium and 

 the irregular dehiscence. The peridium, sometimes almost limeless, 

 is usually encrusted with lime, which is always amorphous, never 

 crystalline. The sporangia may be sessile or stipitate; the stipe, when 

 present, may be solid or hollow and charged with lime. 



As first proposed by Persoon, the genus included diverse forms. He 

 made its limits more definite in 1795 and 1801 and in 1829 Fries 

 further delimited it and set aside certain species as constituting the 

 genus Tilmadoche. Rostafinski altered Fries' arrangement, retaining 

 both genera, but recent writers have been agreed that the separation 

 is artificial and have discarded Tilmadoche. Rostafinski 's treatment, 





