114 MYCETOZOA OF ANTIGUA AND DOMINICA. 



on different leaves from ochraceous to greenish grey; the lime- 

 knots of the capillitium are pale yellow or nearly white. I place 

 the specimens under the above name, and give a figure (PL 385, 

 fig. 2,, a, b, c) because they differ from Rex's type in the sessile and 

 paler sporangia ; they have also rather smoother spores. Whether 

 these differences amount to a specific distinction appears doubtful, 

 even if further material should show their constancy. Mr. Cran's 

 gatherings at six months' interval present precisely the same cha- 

 racters, and it may be well to mark the form as var. /? sessile. 



6. Physarum melleum Mass. On dead leaves, Antigua. There 

 is considerable variety in Mr. Cran's numerous gatherings of this 

 species. The sporangia are either palish olive-brown or yellow- 

 orange ; the stalks are mostly pure white, some are white merging 

 into orange above, and one beautiful growth has dull orange 

 sporangia and yellowish-pink stalks ; the columella varies in 

 length ; the lime-knots have exceptionally a yellow tinge, but 

 are mixed with others of the usual white colour in the same 

 sporangium. 



7. Physarum tenerum Eex. On bark, Antigua. The general 

 character is typical, with lemon-yellow sporangia and yellow stalks 

 shading to brown at the base ; but in some cases the sporangia are 

 nearly white, with darker stalks; the capilHtium and spores are 

 alike in all. 



8. Physarum compactum List. On dead leaves, Antigua. The 

 stalks are pure white to the base, similar to the specimen from 

 Dominica in the British Museum Collection (figured Brit. Mus. Cat. 

 Myc, PI. X.b). 



9. Physarum viride Pers. a luteum. On dead wood, Antigua. 

 A fairly typical specimen. The capillitium consists of rather broad 

 and rigid hyaline threads, with orange lime-knots. 



10. Physarum Berkeleyi Rost. (PI. 385, fig. 3, a, b, c). On cocoa- 

 nut lalm leaves, Antigua. Mr. Cran observes that in Antigua all 

 dead exogenous wood is so rapidly excavated by white ants, that 

 little sustenance remains for the growth of Mycetozoa, while palm 

 branches are neglected by the ants, and supply rich ground for 

 collecting. He has sent five gatherings of Phi/sarum Berkeleyi, 

 collected at different times ; in all of them the sporangia are sub- 

 globose, of a bright yellow colour, shading into rufous in the 

 persistent base. Each gathering differs slightly from the others 

 in the length and thickness of the translucent red-brown stalk, and 

 in the number and size of the lime-knots in the capillitium ; in some 

 these are small, from 5 to 15 /xdiam., in others large and branching, 

 with comparatively few hyaline threads. I have been favoured by 

 Prof. Penzig, of Genoa, with the inspection of six gatherings of 

 this species, made by him in Java in 1896 ; they correspond with 

 Mr. Cran's in all respects. These eleven examples are interestiug 

 as throwing hght on specimens which have presented some difficulty. 

 They fall in with a series including the slender type of P. Berkeleyi 

 from Dr. Rex, from Philadelphia (figured Brit. Mus. Cat. Myc, 

 PI. XII. b); p. oblatum Macbr. B.M. 107; P. Maydis Morgan, 



