378 The Myxomycetes of the United States. 



XXX. — The Myxomycetes of the United States. 



BY M. C. COOKE, M.A.; LL.D.; A.L.S. 



Corresponding Member Acad. Sci., N. Y. Read April 16th, 1877. 



The production of a monograph of the Myxomycetes by 

 Dr. J. Eostafinski, has presented an opportunity for a 

 thorough revision of the North American species, and a new 

 classification, in accordance, as far as possible, with this 

 monograph. As the Polish language (in which the mono- 

 graph is written) is one not generally read, there needs no 

 apology for presenting the arrangement in an English dress. 



This communication necessarily is of a very technical and 

 uninviting character; but it is hoped that what is lacking in 

 general interest will be compensated for in utility. There is 

 no doubt whatever that the system proposed by Eostafinski 

 is the one which will in the main be generally adopted ; and 

 as it is now impossible to obtain the original work, this sy- 

 nopsis is offered to the Academy for the assistance of Trans- 

 atlantic mycologists. Although the measurements of the 

 spores are given, that is by no means the most important 

 element in the new classification. 



For half a century the Myxomycetes have been classified 

 on the basis of external characters alone, or such only as 

 could be discerned by the aid of a pocket lens. In one or 

 two instances an additional genus has been constituted in 

 which some prominence was given to characters determined 

 by the aid of the microscope, as for instance in the genus 

 Badhamia proposed by Berkeley in 1851, but the general 

 feature of the classification was one of external character- 

 istics. The advance of Microscopy left behind such an in- 

 complete system for many years, and at length Professor de 

 Bary turned his attention to the subject, but made no definite 

 propositions for a rectification of the classification, until in 

 1873 his pupil at Strasburg, Dr. Joseph Eostafinski, pub- 

 lished in an inaugural address the outlines of a system of 



