54 THE MYXOMYCETES 



are milk-white when young, which would indicate a watery or white 

 Plasmodium. Apparently the plasmodium remains in the soft rotting 

 wood, coming to the surface only at the time of fruiting. 

 Oregon, Washington. 



16a. Physarum nasuense Emoto 



Bot. Mag. Tokyo 45 : 551. 1932. 



Sporangia scattered or grouped, sessile, elliptical, short-pulvinate or 

 branched, 0.35-0.5 mm. in width, Eugenia red * or jasper red *; wall 

 double, the outer membrane cartilaginous, scarlet *, the inner mem- 

 brane pale yellow, thin, transparent, bearing small calcium granules, 

 attached to the outer; hypothallus and columella lacking; capillitium 

 of thin, pale yellow, transparent threads and concolorous nodules with 

 deep red centers, the calcium granules of the nodes round, 1-3 ju in 

 diameter, the nodules irregular, angular or round; spores globose, 

 violet-brown, uniformly warted, 8-10 /*. Plasmodium orange-red. 



Differing from P. lateritium in color, in regular dehiscence and in the 

 double wall, and from P. brunneolum in shape, color and capillitial 

 characters. In incompletely matured sporangia the wall is more cal- 

 careous and the dehiscence lobate. Non-calcareous sporangia occur 

 which are dark brownish or dark violet-brown. We have seen no 

 specimens. 



Known only from Japan. 



17. Physarum echinosporum Lister 



Jour. Bot. 37 : 147. 1899. 



Sporangia scattered, forming chalk-white, usually curved plas- 

 modiocarps, strongly compressed laterally, dehiscing along the thin 

 upper ridge; sporangium wall of two layers, the outer smooth, egg- 

 shell-like, charged with minute lime granules, separating from the 

 membranous iridescent pale purplish inner layer; capillitium of 

 numerous smooth white lime-knots of irregular shapes and sizes, con- 

 nected by short hyaline threads; spores purple, marked with strong 

 ridges and spines, 8 fx. 



The above description is based on Lister, 3rd ed. We have not seen 

 authentic material. Obviously very close to P. bivalve, apparently 

 the chief distinctions being the firmer, smoother, outer peridium and 

 the very rough, ridged spores. 



Known only from Antigua, West Indies. 



* An asterisk after a color term indicates that it is used in the sense of Ridgway: Color 

 Standards and Nomenclature, 1912. 



