96 THE MYXOMYCETES 



word "albicans" quoted from Micheli. But this term is applicable 

 rather to C. minutum, the cups of which whiten with weathering. It 

 may be, as insisted by Fries (Syst. Myc. 3 : 149), that Micheli drew 

 crateriums; but if so, we cannot determine which species. 



The specific name here adopted was applied by Persoon probably 

 to this form; but Persoon likewise failed to distinguish the present 

 species from C. minutum (see Syn. Meth. Fung., pp. 183, 184, and 

 Fries op. cit., p. 153). Ditmar leaves no doubt as to what he figures 

 and describes, and accordingly the name he first correctly uses is here 

 adopted. 



The var. cylindricum of Lister is here regarded as a distinct species. 

 The variety rufum G. List, is entirely brownish red. Var. scyphoides 

 List, has turbinate or globose sporangia, the entire upper half fall- 

 ing away irregularly in dehiscence. The var. inclusum Cel. fil. (Myx. 

 Bohm. 79), with sporangia clustered on a common stalk, is reported 

 from central Europe. 



Common. New England and Ontario to North Carolina, Washing- 

 ton and California, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina. Common in Europe 

 and in the old world generally. 



4. Craterium cylindricum Massee 



Mon. 268. 1892. 

 PI. VII, Figs. 136, 137. 



1894. Craterium leucocephalum (Pers.) Ditm. ex Lister, Mycetozoa 72, in part. 

 1911. Craterium leucocephalum (Pers.) Ditm. var. cylindricum List., Mycetozoa 

 ed. 2. 97. 



Sporangia gregarious, 0.5 mm. in diameter or less, slender, cylindric, 

 almost entirely white, stipitate; peridium delicate, transparent al- 

 though calcareous nearly to the base, opening by a dehiscence regularly 

 circumscissile; stipe short, about one-third the total height, clear 

 orange-brown, somewhat furrowed, rising from an indistinct hypothal- 

 lus; capillitium very lax, physaroid, the calcareous nodules large, 

 rounded, pure white, aggregated at the center of the cup and often 

 forming a conspicuous pseudocolumella; spore-mass black; spore mi- 

 nutely roughened to practically smooth, violaceous brown, 8-9 fx. 



Lister includes this species with C. leucocephalum, from which its 

 more delicate structure and cylindrical shape certainly distinguish it. 

 The dehiscence is even more regular than in the preceding species and 

 approaches that of C. minutum, with bleached forms of which it must 

 not be confused. 



C. minimum Berk. & Curt., Grev. 2 : 67, 1873, has here priority, 

 but Massee regards this name as indicating a distinct species. We 



