physarum] physaraceae 83 



Berk.& Rav.inGrev.,ii. 65 (1873). D.croceoflavum'Berk. & Br. 

 in Journ. Linn. Soc, xiv. 84 (1873). Physarum Braunianum 

 de Bary, Rost. Mon., p. 105 (1875). P. Ditmari y lateritium 

 Rost. Mon., App. p. 9 (1876). Physarum Ditmari (3 croceo- 

 flavum Rost. I.e., p. 9. P. inaequale Peck in Rep. N. York 

 Mus. Nat. Hist., xxxi. 40 (1879). P. chrysotrichum Mass. 

 Mon., 300 (1892), in part. P. fulgens Pat. in Bull. Soc. Mvc. 

 Fr., viii. 122 (1892)? 



PI. 60. — a. sporangia (South Carolina) ; b. sporangia (Philadelphia) ; c. capillitium 

 and spores, with fragment of sporangium-wall ; d. spore. 



Pi. 61. — d. sporangia of type of P. Braunianum de Bary (Berlin). 



This species is variable in the colour and shape of the sporangia ; 

 the bright rosy form somewhat resembles P. rubiginosum, but is 

 distinguished by the paler more rounded lime-knots ; the orange form 

 appears to be nearly allied to P. virescens, but differs in the sporangia 

 being more scattered and having a tendency to form long slender 

 plasmodiocarps, which are often pale yellow or grey in the lower part. 

 The specimen from Carolina marked in Berkeley's herbarium Didy- 

 mium terrigenum Berk. & Curt. (B.M. 575) is in poor condition but seems 

 to be the present species rather than P. virescens, with which it was 

 placed in the first edition of this work. Dr. Jahn has recently found 

 in the herbarium of the Berlin Museum the type of P. Braunianum 

 de Bary, collected in June, 1852, on moss in Griinewald near Berlin, 

 by A. Braun. The minute sporangia are globose, clustered or scattered, 

 0*2 to 0"3 mm. diam., purplish-brown and either without lime deposits, or 

 spotted and veined with clusters of brick-red lime-granules ; the 

 scanty capillitium consists of slender hyaline threads and yellow or 

 nearly white lime-knots ; the spores are violet-grey, 9 //, diam. ; the 

 specimen is not perfectly developed, and it is a question whether it 

 should be placed with P. virescens or P. lateritium but the brick-red 

 colour of the sporangia favours the latter position. 



Hob. On dead leaves, wood, and twigs. — Near Berlin (B.M. 2322) ; 

 Ceylon (B.M. 414) ; Java (B.M. 2320) ; Georgia (B.M. 899) ; Ohio 

 (B.M. 1263) ; Adirondack Mountains, New York (B.M. 1264) ; Antigua 

 (B.M. 1655) ; Brazil (B.M. 2321). 



56. P. virescens Ditm. in Sturm Deutsch. Fl., Pilze, 

 i. 123, t. lxi (1817). Plasmodium lemon-yellow. Sporangia 

 subglobose or irregularly ovoid, 0-2 to 0-4 mm. diam., sessile, 

 heaped or gregarious, rugose or nearly smooth, pale yellowish- 

 green, orange-yellow, or purple-brown from the absence of lime ; 

 sporangium-wall membranous, with dense included clusters 

 of minute yellow lime-granules, rarely without lime. Columella- 

 none. Capillitium a network of hyaline threads with fusiform 

 roundish or irregular yellow lime-knots. Spores almost 

 smooth, pale violet-brown, 7 to 10 p, diam. — Rost. Mon., 

 p. 103 ; Mass. Mon., 277 ; Macbr. N. Am. Slime-Moulds, 33. 

 P. thejoteum Fr. Symb. Gast., 21 (1818) ; Macbr. I.e., 36. 

 P. Ditmari Rost. Mon., App. p. 8 (1876). Didymium nectriae- 

 forme Berk. & Curt, in Grev., ii. 66 (1873). D. sinajpinum 

 Cooke Myx. Brit., 33 (1877). 



