crateritjm] physaraceae 95 



and without a pseudo-columella. The most frequent form in Europe is 

 perhaps the var. confusum Rost. in the Strassburg Herb. ; it is rather 

 broad in shape, and yellow- brown. When old and weathered the 

 sporangia are apt to lose their colour and become white. In abnormal 

 developments they may be sessile or form short plasmodiocarps : 

 but there appears to be always some differentiation into a lid in the 

 upper part of the sporangium-walls. 



Hab. On dead leaves, sticks, etc., common. — Lyme Regis, Dorset 

 (B.M. 1272) ; Batheaston, Somerset (B.M. 179) ; Yorks (B.M. 1057) ; 

 Penzance (B.M. 24) ; Wales (B.M. 2354) ; France (B.M. 469) ; Germany 

 (B.M. 473) ; Sweden (K. 1359) ; Italy (K. 257) ; Hungary (K. 1362) ; 

 Madeira (K. 1363); Nigeria (Coll. W. G. Freeman); Ceylon (B.M. 

 472) ; West Australia (K. 1360) ; Tasmania (K. 1367) ; New Zealand 

 (B.M. 2355) ; Japan (B.M. 2356) ; Iowa (B.M. 1274) ; Philadelphia 

 (B.M. 1902) ; Colorado (B.M. 2357). 



2. C. concinnum Rex in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1893, 

 370. Plasmodium yolk-coloured. Total height 0-5 to 0-7 mm. 

 Sporangia broadly funnel-shaped or goblet-shaped, stalked, 

 0-2 to 0-5 mm. diam., smooth, pinkish-red or olive-brown, 

 often paler above, opening by a well-defined convex paler 

 lid ; sporangium-wall cartilaginous. Stalk red or brown, 

 0-1 to 0-2 mm. long. Columella none. Capillitium consisting 

 of numerous brown angular lime-knots, connected by short 

 and sparingly branched hyaline threads. Spores purplish - 

 brown, minutely warted, 8 to 9 /a diam. — Macbr. N. Am. 

 Slime-Moulds, 78. 



PI. 79. — a. b. sporangia of various shapes (Philadelphia) ; c. capillitium and 

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



This species is allied to C. minutum, but differs in the smaller size, 

 the brown lime-knots, and the browner spores. 



Hab. On the burrs and leaves of Castanea sativa Mill. var. americana. 

 —Philadelphia (B.M. 1939); Poquonock, Connecticut (B.M. 2358). 



3. C. paraguayense Lister. Plasmodium ? Sporangia 

 stalked, gregarious, goblet-shaped or cylindrical with a 

 convex apex, erect, 0-7 to 0*8 mm. high 0-3 to 0-6 mm. 

 broad, rugose, bright reddish- violet reticulated with a paler 

 shade ; on maturity the apex falls away, separating by an 

 irregular line, and not forming a distinct lid ; sporangium- wall 

 cartilaginous, composed of two closely connected layers with 

 deposits of pale violet lime-granules distributed throughout 

 but chiefly concentrated in pouch-like cavities of the wall, 

 causing the effect of pale reticulations in the opaque object. 

 Columella irregular or cylindrical, pale violet, charged with 

 lime throughout. Stalk cylindrical, 04 mm. high, 0-07 mm. 

 thick, plicate, purple, opaque, arising from a disc-shaped 

 hypothallus. Capillitium consisting of pale violet threads 

 connecting large violet lime-knots that combine in the centre 

 of the sporangium to form a columella which is either 



