badhamia] physaraceae 33 



by Dr. Sturgis and Mr. E. Bethel in Colorado, some sporangia have 

 the dark banded spores characteristic of the English and French 

 specimens, while others have paler spores with little or no banding ; 

 these pale-spored forms approach very closely the paler-spored gather- 

 ings of B. capsulifera, typical examples of which appear to be seldom, 

 met with in North America. 



Hab. On fallen logs of Populus and Negundo. — Essex (B.M. 1969) ; 

 France (B.M. 2064) ; Colorado (B.M. 2065'). 



4. B. utricularis Berk, in Trans. Linn. Soc, xxi. 153 

 (1852). Plasmodium chrome-yellow. Sporangia ovoid, sub- 

 globose, or confluent and lobed, 0-5 to 1 mm. diam., clustered, 

 cinereous or iridescent- violet, often marked with the white 

 attachments of the capilhtium, sessile or on membranous 

 straw-coloured branching stalks ; sporangium-wall hyaline 

 with sparsely distributed minute granules of lime. Capillitium 

 as in B. capsulifera. Spores bright brown or violet-brown, 

 usually adhering in loose clusters of 7 to 10, spinulose, 9 to 

 12 /x diam. — Rost. Mon., p. 142, figs. 110-112. Sphaerocarpus 

 utricularis Bull. Champ., ii. 128 (1791). Trichia coerulea 

 Trentep. in Roth Catal. Bot., i. 229 (1797) ? T. utricularis 

 DC. Fl. Fr., 251 (1805). T. rubiformis Purt. in Brit. PL 

 of Midi. Count., iii. 291, t. 37 (1821) non Pers. Physarum 

 ovoideum Schum. Enum. PL SaelL, ii. 198 (1803). P. 

 hyalinum /?. chalybaeum Alb. & Schw. Consp. Fung., 92 

 (1805). P. botryoides Fr. Stirp. Femsj., 83 (1825). P. botrytes 

 Somm. Fl. Lapp., 242 (1826). Diderma papaverinum Wallr. 

 Fl. Crypt. Germ., 375 (1833). Badhamia varia Mass. Mon., 

 319 (1892) in part. 



PI. 4.— a. cluster of sporangia ; b. fragment of capillitium with a cluster of spore3 

 and three free spores ; c. cluster of spores ; d. spore ; (England). 



This species differs from B. capsulifera in habitat, in having large 

 Plasmodia commonly producing some thousands of sporangia, and in 

 the spores being brighter in colour, with coarser and less crowded 

 spines, without the cluster of warts on one side. In cultivations 

 carried on continuously for many years, the four varieties described 

 in Rostafinski's Monograph have presented themselves. The capilli- 

 tium varied both in form and in the amount of lime it contained ; in 

 some cases the threads were broad with wide expansions at the angles, in 

 others they were narrow and but little widened at the angles ; in some 

 the lime was abundant, in others only a few scattered granules could 

 be found. The degree of clustering of the spores varied in different 

 growths though all were cultivated from one original gathering of 

 Plasmodium, but they were never free. In some specimens in the 

 Strassburg collection the spores show but slight indication of 

 clustering, in others this character is well marked. 



Hab. Plasmodium extensively creeping over the bark of fallen 

 trees, logs, etc., feeding on effused fungi, especially Stereum hirsutum and 

 Polyporus versicolor. — Batheaston, Somerset (B.M. 103) ; Lyme Regis, 

 Dorset (B.M. 1174); Glamis, Forfarshire (B.M. 149); France (Paris 

 Herb.); Germany (Strassb. Herb.); Italy (K. 165); Portugal (B.M. 

 2066); Massachusetts (B.M. 1177). 



