46 ENDOSPOREAE [PHYSARUM 



2. P. melleum Mass. Mon., 278 (1892). Plasmodium yellow. 

 Total height - 8 mm. Sporangia globose, stalked, erect, 

 yellow or brownish-yellow, 0*5 mm. diam. ; sporangium- wall 

 membranous, often wrinkled, persistent at the base, yellowish, 

 with minute yellow lime granules sparsely distributed. Stalk 

 white, buff, or rufous, stout, opaque, with few shallow furrows, 

 chalky in section. Columella short, conical. Capilhtium 

 consisting of irregularly-branching delicate hyaline threads, 

 sometimes expanded at the axils, with lime- knots white or 

 yellowish, various in shape and size, mostly large and angled. 

 Spores violet-brown, almost smooth, 7 to 8 fx diam. — Macbr. N. 

 Am. Slime-Moulds, 47. Didymium melleum Berk. & Br. in 

 Journ. Linn. Soc, xiv. 83 (1873). Physarum Schumacheri, var. 

 (3 melleum Rost. Mon., App. p. 7. P. Kalchbrenneri Mass. 

 Mon., 297. P. rubropunctatum Pat. in Bull. Soc. Myc. Fr., 

 ix. 143 (1893) ? Didymium chrysopeplum Berk. & Curt, in 

 Grev., ii. 53 (1873). Cytidium melleum Morg. Myx. Miami 

 Valley, 83 (1896). 



PI. 23. — a. sporangia ; b. capillitium and spores ; c. spore ; (Philadelphia). 



Common in the United States, and apparently abundant throughout 

 the tropics ; hitherto the only European records known are those 

 made by Dr. C. Torrend, who has several times gathered the species 

 in Portugal. Mr. Petch describes the plasmodium as being watery 

 ochraceous-yellow (in Ann. Perad., iv. 329). 



Hab. On dead wood, leaves, etc. — Portugal (B.M. 2092) ; Cape 

 (K. 347) ; Ceylon (B.M. 411) ; Borneo (B.M. 1257) ; Java (B.M. 2093) ; 

 Japan (B.M. 1996) ; Philippine Islands (B.M. 2050) ; Philadelphia 

 (B.M. 1210); Ohio (B.M. 1211); Iowa (B.M. 1018); Antigua (B.M. 

 1645) ; Brazil (B.M. 2094). 



3. P. sulphureum Alb. & Schw. Consp. Fung., 93, 

 tab. 6, fig. 1 (1805). Plasmodium? Sporangia subglobose, 

 ruguloso-squamulose, suphur- yellow, gregarious, 0*6 to - 8 mm. 

 diam., stalked ; sporangium-wall membranous, with crowded 

 clusters of yellow lime-granules. Stalk stout, white, dirty 

 white or yellowish, 0-1 to 0*3 mm. high, furrowed, densely 

 charged with lime within. Columella none. Capillitium 

 with abundant large, irregular, often branching white lime- 

 knots, and rather short connecting threads. Spores violet- 

 brown, spinulose, 9 to 11 /x diam. — Rost. Mon., p. 101. P. 

 flavum Fr. Symb. Gast., 22 (1818) ; Rost. I.e., 100. P. 

 lepidodermoides Blytt in Bidr. Norg., Sop. iii. 4 (1892) ? 

 Craterium flavum Fr. Summ. Veg. Scand., 454 (1849). 



PI. 65. — a. sporangia ; 6. capillitium and spores, with fragment of sporangium- 

 wall ; c. spore ; (Sweden). 



Specimens gathered by Dr. R. E. Fries from near Upsala correspond 

 exactly with the illustration of the type in Consp. Fung., I.e. This 

 species is closely related to P. variabile Rex, from the stalked forms of 

 which it is distinguished by the more globose sporangia and the rather 



