96 ENPOSPOREAE [CRATERIUM 



connected with or free from the apex of the stalk. Spores 

 violet, nearly smooth, 8 to 9/xdiam. — Didymium paraguayense 

 Spegaz. in Anal. Soc. Cient. Argent., xxii. 186 (1886) ; 

 .Mass. Mon., 250. D. guarapiense (errore) Spegaz. I.e., xxvi. 

 ■60. Craterium rubescens Rex in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 

 1893, 370 ; Lister Mycetozoa, 71 ; Macbr. N. Am. Slime- 

 Moulds, 75. Iocraterium rubescens Jahn in Hedw., xliii. 

 302, fig. 1, a to e (1904). Iocraterium paraguayense Torr 

 end Fl. Myx., 174 (1909). 



PI. 80. — a. sporangia (Brazil) ; b. a sporangium with broken walls showing 

 the columella ; c. capillitium and spores ; d. sporangia (Paraguay) ; e. capillitium 

 and spores of the same with fragment of sporangium-walls ; /. spore. 



This species has been placed by Dr. Jahn in a new genus, Iocraterium, 

 on the ground that the central mass of confluent lime-knots is connected 

 with the apex of the stalk, and thus forms a true columella ; but this 

 ■character does not appear to be constant, and is not evident in the 

 type of C. rubescens Rex from Louisiana. 



Hab. On dead leaves. — Louisiana (B.M. slide) ; Paraguay (B.M. 

 1002a) ; Brazil (B.M. 2359). 



4. C. leucocephalum Ditm. in Sturm Deutsch. Fl., Pilze, 

 21, t. 11 (1813). Plasmodium rich yellow. Total height 1 mm. 

 Sporangia ovoid or turbinate, stalked, erect, 0*7 mm. high, 

 0*4 to 0-6 mm. broad, red-brown with white incrustations of 

 lime and usually spotted with minute yellow warts on the upper 

 half ; in abnormal developments plasmodiocarp forms may 

 occur. Lid white, convex. Sporangium-wall thin, consisting 

 of two closely connected layers ; the outer yellow, provided in 

 the upper part with scattered lime-deposits and studded with 

 shallow often colourless pouches containing dense aggregations 

 of white lime-granules, and associated with yellow crystalline 

 disc-shaped bodies ; the lower part cartilaginous, translucent, 

 of deeper colour, and continued into the stalk ; the inner 

 layer membranous and colourless. Stalk cylindrical, plicate, 

 0-3 to 0-5 mm. long, red-brown, translucent, cartilaginous, rising 

 from a circular hypothallus. Columella either absent or repre- 

 sented by a central mass of confluent lime-knots. Capillitium 

 consisting of large, irregularly shaped white or yellowish lime- 

 knots, connected by yellow branching hyaline threads, with 

 frequent flattened expansions at the axils. Spores violet- 

 brown, spinulose, 7 to 9 //, diam. — Fr. Syst. Myc, hi. 153 ; Rost. 

 Mon., p. 123; Mass. Mon., 267; Macbr. N. Am. Slime-Moulds, 

 76. Stemonitis leucocephala Pers. in Gmel. Syst. Nat., 1467 

 (1791). Peziza convivale Batsch Elench. Fung., 121 (1783) ? 

 Arcyria leucocephala HofTm. Fl. Crypt. Germ., t. 6 (1795). 

 Physarum leucosticlum Chev. Fl. Paris, i. 336 (1826) ? P. 

 xanthopus Wallr. Fl. Crypt. Germ., ii. 358 (1833). Craterium 

 dcoperculatum Fr. in Weinm. Hymen. & Gasterom., 597 (1836). 



