210 THE MYXOMYCETES 



dark brown, furrowed, slender, flexuous, tapering upward; calyculus 

 lacking, its place taken by reddish brown, granular ribs; net prominent, 

 meshes of medium size, usually triangular; nodes thickened, large, 

 irregular, reddish brown, granular, giving rise to many long free ends; 

 connecting threads parallel, often two or three together; hypothallus 

 conspicuous; spores ochraceous in mass, by transmitted light pale, 

 spiny, 6-7 /*. 



Distinguished by the parallel connecting threads, agreeing in this 

 respect with Rostafmski's fig. 27, pi. 2, and Massee's fig. 11, pi. 1. 

 Lister regards C. dictydioides as merely a variety of this species. The 

 latter, however, has short free ends and nodes of a lighter color. C. 

 tenella also resembles it in shape and size of the sporangium but is 

 provided with a calyculus and lacks the long free ends and parallel 

 connecting threads. 



Rare. New England, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Missouri, West Indies, 

 Bolivia; Europe, South Africa, Ceylon, Malay Peninsula, Japan. 



6. Cribraria minutissima Schw. 



Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. II. 4 : 260. 1832. 

 PI. XIV, Figs. 343, 344, 345. 



1873. Cribraria minima Berk. & Curt., Grev. 2 : 67. 

 1873. Cribraria microscopica Berk. & Curt., Grev. 2 : 67. 



Sporangia minute, scattered, nut-brown, 0.1-0.3 mm. in diameter, 

 erect; calyculus variable, when fully mature separated from the net 

 by a shallow constriction; more commonly the constriction is not 

 present, and the cup may be entirely lacking; nodes expanded but not 

 thickened, bearing light granules; connecting threads flattened, free 

 ends lacking, hypothallus none; stipe brown, one to three times the 

 height of the sporangium; spore-mass yellow; spores by transmitted 

 light pallid, minutely roughened, 5-7 fx. 



In its typical expression this species is characterized by its minute 

 size and the wide-meshed net bulging from the calyculus. Often, how- 

 ever, the calyculus is partly or entirely suppressed. The sporangia 

 without calyculus, however, are usually scattered among others with 

 it, and are often smaller, suggesting incomplete development. They 

 have every appearance of having arisen from the same plasmodium. 

 C. minima and C. microscopica seem to stand for these forms with 

 and without the calyculus, respectively. 



Rare, or at least seldom collected. New York, Pennsylvania, North 

 Carolina, South Carolina, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, Washing- 

 ton; Europe, southern Asia. 



