154 Natural History Bulletin. 



CRATERIUM, TrentephL 



Sporangia stipitate, regular, cyathiform, opening with a lid, 

 distinct. The peridium double or three-fold; the outer, con- 

 tinuous with the hollow stipe, papyraceous; the inner thin, 

 without Hme. Capillitium consisting of rigid persistent tubu- 

 les, calcareous at base. Columella calcareous. 



55. Craterium leucocephalum, Per soon. Plate VIII, 



Fig. 5. 

 Sporangia ovate, stalked, the upper part rugose, mottled 

 with white; the lower and stipe, rusty-brown. The hd pure 

 white, strongly convex. Capillitium nodes and columella 

 white. 



The tiny cups which form the fruit in this species are in 

 themselves sufficiently definitive. The outer peridium per- 

 sists long after the spores are scattered. The columella, so 

 called, is formed by strongly developed calcareous nodes of 

 the capillitium, massed at the center, just as in No. 54. Not 

 common; on leaves and fallen wood in forests. 



PHYSARUM, Per soon. 



Sporangia simple, plasmodiocarpous or aethalioid. Peridium 

 simple or double, irregularly dehiscent, calcareous. Capilli- 

 tium a uniform net, thickened and calcareous at the nodes, 

 adherent on all sides to the wall of the inner peridium. 



56. Physarum didermoides, Acharius. Plate IX, Figs, i, 



i«, lb and ic. 



Sporangia sessile or short-stalked, crowded ypon a com- 

 mon hypothallus, ovate or cylindric, persistent. Peridium 

 double; the outer thin, colorless, early deciduous, the inner 

 thick calciferous, white. Capillitium with white, round cal- 

 careous nodes. Columella none. Spores spinescent, dark- 

 violet, .012-.014. 



