60 ENDOSPOREAE [PHYSARUM 



lime-granules. Stalk firm, dark red-bro\vn, translucent, 

 0-1 to 0*6 mm. high, stout or slender. Columella none. 

 Capillitium a network of hyaline threads with expansions at 

 the axils ; lime-knots numerous, branching, yellow, some 

 occasionally uniting to form a pseudo-columella. Spores 

 pale violet, nearly smooth, 9 to 10 /x diam. C rater ium Maydis 

 Morg. Myx. Miami Valley, 87 (1896) ; Macbride N. Am. 

 Slime-Moulds, 74. 



PI. 32. — c. sporangia (Ceylon) ; d. capillitium and spores ; e. spore. 

 The slender forms of this species closely resemble P. flavicomum, 

 while the stouter forms with short stalks appear to merge insensibly 

 into P. auriscalpium ; it presents, however, a distinct and fairly constant 

 centre, and has now been obtained from Ohio and Iowa in the United 

 States, and from Antigua, Ceylon, and Java. It has been placed by Mr. 

 Morgan and Professor Macbride in the closely allied genus Cratcrium 

 on account of the thickened base of the sporangium-wall ; but this 

 feature is not always present, and is one that may also be seen to a 

 certain extent in both P. flavicomum and P. auriscalpium. We therefore 

 follow Dr. Torrend in transferring Cratcrium Maydis to the genus 

 Physarum, that it may stand between the two species with which it 

 appears to form the connecting link. 



Hab. On dead wood, twigs, maize stalks, etc. — Iowa (B.M. 1017) ; 

 Antigua (B.M. 1649) ; Ceylon (B.M. 2143) ; Java (B.M. 2144). 



24. P. auriscalpium Cooke in Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. New 

 York, xi. 384 (1877). Plasmodium ? Sporangia subglobose, 

 0-4 to 0-8 mm. diam., stalked or sessile, yellow, orange 

 or rufous, rugulose or scaly, scattered or in small 

 clusters ; sporangium- wall membranous, with clustered 

 deposits of lime-granules. Stalk red-brown or blackish- 

 brown, translucent, 0-1 to 0-4 mm. high. Capillitium con- 

 sisting of large branching orange-yellow lime-knots, con- 

 nected by short hyaline threads. Spores brownish- violet, 

 minutely spinulose, 9 to 10 /j. diam. — Lister in Journ. Bot., 

 xxxvi. 115 ; Macbr. N. Am. Slime-Moulds, 38. P. ornatum 

 Peck in Rep. N. Y. Mus., xxxi. 40 (1879). P. oblatum Macbr. 

 Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. Iowa, ii. 384 (1893). P. sulphuretim 

 Sturgis in Bot. Gaz., xviii. 197, t. xx, figs. 5-8 (1893). 

 Badhamia citrinella Cel. fil. Myx. Bohm., 76, t. iv, fig. 1 

 (1893)* ; see Lister in Journ. Bot., xl. 211. 



Pl. 33. — a. sporangia (South Carolina) ; b. capillitium and spores ; c. spore. 

 This species is closely allied on the one hand to P. Maydis and on the 

 other to Badhamia decipiens (q.v. ; see also note to P. pusillum, p. 65.) 



Hab. On dead wood and twigs.— Near Paris (B.M. 2148) ; North 

 Germany (B.M. 2145); Portugal (B.M. 2146); New Hampshire (B.M. 

 1717) ; South Carolina (B.M. 863). 



25. P. fulvum Lister non Fries. Plasmodium yellow. Spor- 

 angia globose or obovoid, 0-6 to 0-8 mm. diam., cream-white 

 or pale fulvous, nearly smooth or rugulose, stalked or sessile, 



* In Arch. Naturw. Land. Bohm. vii. 5, p. 76. 



