86 ENDOSPOREAE [FULIGO 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF FULIGO. 



Aethalium and lime-knots yellow, rarely reddish or white ; 

 spores 1 to % }x. \. F. septica 



Aethalium yellowish-grey ; lime-knots numerous, orange- 

 yellow ; spores 10 to 11 //,. 2. F. muscorum 



Aethalium and lime-knots pure white, the latter large ; spores 

 10 to 14 p., often ellipsoid. 3. F. cinerea 



1. F. septica Gmelin Syst. Nat., 1466 (1791). Plas- 

 modium yellow, rarely white. Aethalia pulvinate, varying 

 much in size, from 2 mm. to 20 cm. broad, yellow, pinkish 

 or dull white or reddish-brown. The sporangia constituting 

 the aethalium are intricately coiled and anastomosing, - 2 to 

 - 25 mm. broad, with air spaces in the intervals which permeate 

 the mass ; the cortex is sometimes wanting, when the surface 

 is grey and marked with brain-like convolutions ; sporangium- 

 walls within the aethalium membranous, very fragile, colourless, 

 with scattered deposits of lime-granules. Columella none. 

 Capillitium scanty or abundant, consisting of a loose network 

 of slender hyaline threads more or less expanded at the axils, 

 with fusiform or branching yeUow or whitish lime-knots, 

 varying much in size. Spores violet, almost smooth, 6 to 

 8 fx, rarely 8 to 10 fx diam. — Blytt in Bidr. Norg., Sop. hi. 5 

 (1892). Mucor septicus Linn. Sp. PL, ed. 2, 1656 (1763). 

 M. primus (ovatus) Schaeff. Fung. Bav., 132, fig. 192 (1763). 

 M. Mucilago Scop. Fl. Cam., ed. 2, ii. 492 (1772). Reticularia 

 lutea Bull. Champ., 87, t. 380, fig. 1 (1791). R. hortensis 

 Bull. I.e., 86, t. 424, fig. 2. R. carnosa Bull. I.e., 85, t. 424, fig. 1.? 

 Fuligo flava Pers. in Roemer N. Mag. Bot., i. 88 (1794). F. rufa 

 Pers. I.e. F.vaporaria Pers. Obs., i. 92. F. Candida Pers. I.e. 

 F. laevis Pers. Syn., 160 (1801). F. violacea Pers. I.e. ; Macbr. 

 N. Am. Slime-Moulds, 24. F. flavescens Schum. Enum. PI. 

 Saell., ii. 194 (1803). F. varians Somm. Fl. Lapp., 239 (1826) ; 

 Rost. Mon., p. 134 ; Mass. Mon., 430. F. tatrica Racib. in 

 Hedw., xxiv. 169 (1885). F. ovata Macbr. I.e., 23 (1899). 

 Aethalium flavum, Link in Mag. Ges. Nat. Fr. Berl., hi. 42 (1809) 

 A. septicum Fr. Syst. Myc., hi. 93 (1829). A. ferrincola 

 Schwein. in Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc, n.s. iv. 261 (1832) ? Licea 

 Lindheimeri Berk, in Grev., ii. 68 (1873).* Tubulina Lindheimeri 

 Mass. I.e., 42 (1892). Physarum cerebrinum Mass. I.e., 306. 



PI. 74. — a. part of a small ecorticate aethalium (Essex) ; b. white aethalium 

 (Hants); c. reddish aethalium (Essex); d. capillitium and spores from aethalium 

 " c." ; e. capillitium and spores from aethalium " a." ; /. spore. 



* Through the courtesy of Prof. Macbride we have had the opportunity of examining 

 the specimen described under the name of Licea Lindheimeri Berk., by Morgan (Myx. 

 Miami Valley, Macbr. N. Am. Slime-Moulds, 147, t. xii.. figs 6, 6a, 66); it is an 

 ascomyectous fungus belonging to the Order Perisporiacei , probably a species of 

 Emericella. 



