PHYSARUM 67 



37. Physarum pulcherrtpes Peck 



Bull. Buff. Soc. Nat. Hist. 1 : 64. 1873. 

 PL V, Figs. 81, 82. 



1873. Didymium erythrinum Berk., Grev. 2 : 52. 



1873. Didymium ravenelii Berk. & Curt., Grev. 2 : 53. 



1873. Physarum petersii Berk. & Curt., Grev. 2 : 66. 



1875. Physarum schumacheri Spr. var. rufipes A. & S. ex Rost, Mon. 99. 



1876. Physarum psittacinum Ditm. var. ravenelii Rost., Mon. App. 8. 

 1888. Physarum pulchripes Berl., Sacc. Syll. Fung. 7 : 349. 



1896. Cytidium rufipes (A. & S.) Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist. 19 : 9. 

 1899. Physarum rufipes (A. & S.) Macbr., N. A. Slime-Moulds 50. 



Sporangia globose, 0.5-0.7 mm. in diameter, yellow-orange to 

 tawny brown with lime deposits, dark iridescent beneath, the walls 

 thin, deciduous; stipitate, the stipe slender, erect, deep red, sometimes 

 black below, pale or orange above, and supported on a well-developed 

 hypothallus; columella small, conical or subglobose; capillitium dense, 

 the meshes and nodes unusually small and delicate, the latter reddish 

 or yellow; spore-mass dark violaceous gray; spores by transmitted 

 light pallid, faintly warted with clusters of darker warts, violet, 8-10 \i. 

 Plasmodium probably yellow. 



The striking contrast of color between sporangia and stipes renders 

 this species at sight quite distinct from any related form. The peridia 

 in the specimens before us are black or iridescent sprinkled more or less 

 profusely with orange lime granules which sometimes cover all but the 

 base. The stipe, springing from a small hypothallus, is dark red below 

 for about one-fourth its height, then vermilion, above expanding 

 slightly beneath the peridium. The capillitium is a delicate net, with 

 numerous small, uniformly regular, orange, calcareous nodes. 



This species is no doubt related to P. psittacinum. It is, however, 

 much smaller, has a calcareous stipe, and a much less variegated 

 peridium, and generally a small columella. It is also akin to P. glo- 

 buliferum and to P. murinum. 



Eastern United States, Washington; not common. Reported from 

 Ireland. 



38. Physarum pulcherrimum Berk.&Rav. 



Grev. 2 : 65. 1873. 

 PI. V, Figs. 83, 84. 



1873. Stemonitis porphyra Berk. & Curt., Grev. 2 : 69. 

 1879. Physarum atrorubrum Pk., Rept. N. Y. State Mus. 31 : 40. 

 1896. Cytidium pulcherrimum (B. & R.) Morgan, Jour. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist. 

 19:8. 



