FAMILY V. MYXOCOCCACEAE 



887 



Key to (he species of genus Chondrococcus. 



I. Not parasitic on fish. 



A. Erect, simple or somewhat branched fruiting bodies. 



1. Secondary fruiting bodies not produced. 



a. Fruiting bodies constricted or jointed. 



1. Chondrococcus coralloides. 

 aa. Fruiting bod}- simple, columnar, club- or cushion-shaped. 



b. Fruiting body thick below, lesser above. 



2. Chondrococcus cirrhosus. 

 bb. Not as in b. 



c. Fruiting body cushion-shaped. 



3. Chondrococcus megalosporus. 

 cc. Fruiting bodj- branched. 



4. Chondrococcus macrosporus. 



2. Secondary fruiting bodies arise as bud-, finger- or coral-like growths from primary 

 fruiting body. 



5. Chondrococcus blasticus. 



B. Recumbent, simple swelling or cyst heap constituting the fruiting body. 



6. Chondrococcus cerebriformis. 

 II. Parasitic on fish. 



7. Chondrococcxis columnaris . 



1. Chondrococcus coralloides (Tha.x- 

 ter, 1892) Jahn, 1924. {Myxococcns coralloides 

 Thaxter, Bot. Gaz., 17, 1892, 404; Jahn, 

 Beitriige zur bot. Protistologie. I, Die Poly- 

 angiden. Geb. Borntraeger, Leipzig, 1924, 

 85.) 



co.ral.lo.i'des or co.ral.loi'des. Or. noun 

 coraUium coral; Or. noun eidus shape; M.L. 

 adj. coralloides coral -like. 



Vegetative cells : Rods slender and curved, 

 0.4 bj' 4.0 to 7.0 microns. Rod masses pale 

 pinkish, thin. Readily cultivated on potato 

 agar or peptone agar. 



Fruiting bodies: Verj' variable in shape, 

 usually with rounded coral-like processes, 

 recumbent or upright, sometimes with fin- 

 ger-like outgrowths or rounded constric- 

 tions, usually small, about 50 microns in 

 diameter, protuberances 20 to 30 microns 

 wide, light rose to flesh color. Microcysts 

 1.0 to 1.2 microns. Jahn recognizes two va- 

 rieties of this species: the one, isolated by 

 Quehl (Cent. f. Bakt., II Abt., 16, 1906, 18), 

 has fruiting bodies simple or branched 

 rather than constricted or jointed; the 

 other, described by Kofler (Sitzber. d. kais. 

 Akad. Wiss., Wien, math.-nat. Klasse, Abt. 

 I, 1^22, 1913, 865), has its fruiting bodies in 

 the form of simple swellings or "cyst heaps" 



instead of branches; the latter is also re- 

 cumbent rather than erect. Krzemieniewski 

 (Acta Soc. Bot. Poloniae, 4, 1926, 46) regards 

 a variet}' of this species as a distinct species. 



Source: Isolated from lichens. Found bj^ 

 Jahn {op. cit., 1924) on dung of rabbit, hare, 

 horses and deer and on old bark and lichens; 

 also found on goat dung from Lapland and 

 Italy. Kofler {op. cit., 1913, 865) reports it 

 from the dung of field mice, horses, hares, 

 goats, roe and deer. 



Habitat : Found on decaying organic mat- 

 ter in soil and in the dung of various ani- 

 mals. Thaxter {op. cit., 1892, 404) reports 

 that it is common in Europe but uncommon 

 in America. Common in Polish soil, accord- 

 ing to Krzemieniewski {op. cit., 5, 1927). 



Illu.strations: Thaxter {op. cit., 1892, PI. 

 24, Figs. 29-33), Quehl {op. cit., 1906, PI. 1, 

 Figs. 1 and 9), Kofler {op. cit., 1913, PI. 1, 

 Fig. 4; PI. 2, Fig. 9), Krzemieniewski {op. 

 cit., 1926, PI. II, Figs. 15-18) and Jahn {op. 

 cit., 1924, Fig. Y, page 87). 



2. Chondrococcus cirrhosus (Thaxter, 

 1897) Jahn, 1924. {Myxococcns cirrhosus 

 Thaxter, Bot. Gaz., 23, 1897, 409; Jahn, 

 Beitriige zur bot. Protistologie. I, Die Poly- 



