I3 
MYCETOZOA AT PORLOCK IN OCTOBER 1920. 
By Norman G. Hadden. 
A dry September with frequent cold winds had rendered the 
local woods much too dry for an abundant growth of Mycetozoa 
at the time of the British Mycological Society’s Foray at 
Minehead, so that the wealth of species known to occur was but 
poorly represented. The very heavy rains which fell during 
the first week of October, followed by warm dull days with 
thick mists in the early morning provided ideal conditions for 
the development of sporangia of Mycetozoa. Two and three- 
year old heaps of coniferous sawdust which had been under 
observation all the summer and had yielded no specimens, 
quickly became the centre of interest and were bespangled with 
large masses of maturing plasmodium. The crimson and grey 
sporangia of Arcyria denudata and A. cinerea appeared in 
great abundance and were soon accompanied by a large semi- 
circular patch of white plasmodium which proved to be the 
very beautiful Avcyria Oerstedtii. All of this development 
which remained exposed on the sawdust was completely de- 
stroyed by a heavy rain storm; fortunately I had brought a 
quantity of it in-doors where the formation of the sporangia 
and change from white to ochraceous brown and finally to rich 
crimson was extremely interesting to observe. Sawdust de- 
velopments are more at the mercy of the elements and become 
mouldy sooner than the ordinary growths matured on dead 
logs or fallen branches which afford them a certain amount of 
protection, but on the other hand the growths on sawdust are 
usually larger and more luxuriant. Two small developments of 
the lilac-brown Stemonitis hyperopta was a somewhat unexpected 
find on the sawdust. Another sawdust heap situated about 
goo ft. above sea level proved of great interest; large masses 
of the little nut-brown Cribraria aurantiaca carpeted its surface 
intermingled with Dictydium cancellatum in smaller quantity. 
The green strands of plasmodium of the Cribraria were very 
conspicuous as they crept over the sawdust when about to 
mature. Chips of larch wood lying on the heap provided a home 
for quantities of the black Licea flexuosa, the dark olive-green 
aethalia of Enteridium olivaceum and a fine growth of the rare 
and handsome Cribraria pyriformis which appears to be par- 
ticularly partial to these old heaps of coniferous sawdust. Heavy 
rain again fell in the middle of the month succeeded by some- 
what cold and dull weather; from this time all sawdust develop- 
ments ceased to appear but logs, dead gorse twigs, hedge 
