90 THE MYXOMYCETES 



rangium wall membranous, rather firm, orange; stalk 0.1-0.7 mm. high, 

 slender, black, enclosing refuse matter, sometimes yellow above from 

 superficial lime granules; columella black, conical or clavate, short to 

 two- thirds the height of the sporangium; capillitium abundant, per- 

 sistent, of colorless threads with small, fusiform, orange-red nodes; 

 spores pale purplish gray, reticulated, five to six meshes on one side, 

 meshes fainter and less regular on the other, sometimes marked merely 

 by short curved lines, 10-11 fx. 



The above description is slightly abridged from Lister, 3rd edition, 

 35. It is suggested that its relationships are with P. psittacinum be- 

 cause of the orange nodes and peridial deposits. The capillitium, how- 

 ever, is decidedly tilmadochoid as described. 



Chile; Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia. 



72. Physarum nutans Pers. 



Ust. Ann. Bot. 15 : 6. 1795. 

 PI. VI, Figs. 125, 126. 



1791. Sphcsrocarpus albus Bull., Champ. 137. 



1791. Stemonitis alba (Bull.) GmeL, Syst. Nat. 2 : 1469. 



1797. Trichia nutans (Pers.) Trentep., in Roth, Cat. Bot. 1 : 227. 



1803. Trichia cernua Schum., Enum. PL Saell. 2 : 241. 



1829. Physarum cemuum (Schum.) Fr., Syst. Myc. 3 : 130, in part. 



1829. Didymium marginatum Fr., Syst. Myc. 3 : 115. 



1829. Didymium furfur aceum Fr., Syst. Myc. 3 : 116. 



1829. Physarum gracilentum Fr., Syst. Myc. 3 : 133. 



1849. Tilmadoche cernua (Schum.) Fr., Summ. Veg. Scand. 454. 



1873. Tilmadoche nutans (Pers.) Rost., Versuch 10. 



1875. Tilmadoche gracilenta (Fr.) Rost., Mon. 129. 



1899. Tilmadoche alba (Bull.) Macbr., N. A. Slime-Moulds 58. 



Sporangia gregarious, depressed-spherical, 0.4-0.7 mm. in diameter, 

 sometimes smaller, stipitate, umbilicate, gray or white, thin-walled, erect 

 or nodding; stipe long, tapering upward, brown or black below, ashen 

 white above, lightly striate, graceful; capillitium abundant, threads del- 

 icate, intricately combined in a loose persistent network with occasional 

 minute, rounded, or elongate white calcareous nodules; spores minutely 

 roughened, globose, about 10 n. 



The nodding, lenticular, umbilicate sporangium, barely attached to 

 the apiculate stipe, is sufficient to distinguish this elegant little species, 

 recognized and quite aptly characterized by mycologists for more than 

 one hundred years. The stipe is usually white above, fuscous below, 

 at the apex almost evanescent; hence the cernuous sporangia. The 

 same character is less strikingly manifest in the species next following. 



The Plasmodium is bright yellow, sometimes greenish. Brought in 



