524 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [July^ 



DIACH^A CYLINDmCA, A NEW SPECIES OF MTCETOZOA. 



BY HUGO BILGRAM. 



Sporangia: cylindrical with obtuse apex, sessile, gregareous, iri- 

 descent, steel gray or bronze, 1 to 1.7 mm. high, .5 to .65 mm. thick. 

 Hypothallus: whitish, rugose. Sporangium wall: membranous, 

 hyaline, not adhering to the capillitiimi. Columella: arising from the 

 hypothallus and extending nearly to the apex, brown, very light and 

 semitranslucent near the base, irregular, flexuous, limeless throughout. 

 Capillitium: brown, radiating from the columella to the periphery, 

 repeatedly branching and anastomosing. Spores: 10 to 12 microns 

 diameter, warted, the warts connected by ridges forming a more or less 

 perfect coarse reticulation. 



If the published descriptions of the genera of the Mycetozoa are taken 

 verbally, this species cannot be classed with any one of those heretofore 

 described. Its proper location is between Diachwa, Lam/proderma and 

 Comatricha. It differs from the first by the total absence of lime in 

 its columella: from the second by the cylindrical form of the sporangia 

 and the fact that the capillitium does not radiate from the end of the 

 columella as a centre; and from the third by the persistent, iridescent 

 wall, the absence of a stipe and the irregular columella. In external 

 appearance as well as in the character of its capillitium it agrees wdth 

 Diachcea, from which it differs, as before stated, onl}^ by the absence of 

 lime. It was found near Wissahickon creek, not far from Indian Rock, 

 Philadelphia. 



