244 EXDOSPOREAE [ARCYRIA 



unexpanded 1-5 to 2 mm. high, 0-3 to 0-5 mm. broad; 

 ochraceous-yellow or pale buff ; cup of sporangium-wall mem- 

 branous, flaccid, reticulated and often spinulose on the inner 

 side, interruptedly plicate. Stalk buff, short, or elongated 

 and weak, filled with spore-like cells. Capillitium a very 

 elastic network of pale yellow terete or flattened threads 

 3 to 4 fx diam., expanding into a drooping column 8 to 12 

 mm. in length, free from the cup, or with few attach- 

 ments ; thickenings on the threads in the form of sharp 

 spines and half-rings arranged hi a loose spiral, and of 

 scattered spinules and short lines of broken reticulation ; 

 free ends more or less numerous, clavate. Spores pale 

 yellow, nearly smooth, marked with a few scattered 

 warts, 6 to 8 /a diam. — Rost. Mon., p. 277 ; Mass. Mon., 150 ; 

 Macbr. N. Ann. Slime-Moulds, 191. Trichia nutans Bull. 

 Champ., 122, t. 502, fig. 3 (1791). T. elongata Schum. Enum. 

 PI. Saell., ii., 209 (1803). Stemonitis nutans Gmel. Syst. 

 Nat., 1467 (1791). S. amoena Trentep. in Roth Catal. 

 Bot., i. 222 (1797). Arcyria flava Pers. in Roemer N. Mag. 

 Bot., i. 90 (1794) ; Lister Mycetozoa, 190. A. alutacea 

 Schum. I.e., 212. 



PI. 179. — a sporangia ; b. capillitium and spores with fragment of cup of sporangium- 

 wall ; (England). 



Hab. On dead wood ; abundant in the British Isles. — Kent (B.M. 

 1151); Camden Town, London (B.M. 1152); Leytonstone, Essex 

 (B.M. 1513); Batheaston, Somerset (B.M. 289); Lyme Regis, Dorset 

 (B.M. 1514); Leicester (B.M. 284) ; Boynton, Yorks (B.M. 1148); 

 Northumberland (B.M. 3091); North Wales (B.M. 3092); France 

 (B.M. 970); Germany (B.M. 722); Poland (Strassb. Herb.); Switzer- 

 land (B.M. 3093); Ceylon (Peradeniya Herb.) ; Java (B.M. 3094); 

 Christmas Island, Java (B.M. 1743); Australia (B.M. 725); New Zea- 

 land (B.M. 3095) ; Banff, Alberta (B.M. 3096) ; Toronto (B.M. 3097) ; 

 Newfoundland (B.M. 1780) ; Iowa (B.M. slide) ; Kansas (B.M. 3098) ; 

 Colorado (B.M. 3099) ; South Carolina (B.M. 969) ; Bahama Islands 

 (B.M. 3100). 



13. A. Oerstedtii Rost. Mon., p. 278 (1875). Plasmo- 

 dium watery- white. Sporangia stalked, clustered, cylindrical, 

 curved, rising from a common membranous hypothallus, 

 when unexpanded 0-6 to 1*5 mm. high, 0-3 to 0*5 mm. broad, 

 dull crimson ; sporangium-wall evanescent above, or persistent 

 only in the form of a few well-defined rounded plates, which are 

 papillose on the inner side, smooth on the margin ; cup 

 membranous, papillose, with a smooth rim. Stalks pale red, 

 varying in length, usually very short, weak, filled with spore- 

 like cells. Capillitium an elastic network of pale red nearly 

 terete threads 3 to 5 fx diam., expanding into a long drooping 

 cylindrical column ; thickenings in the form of half rings and 

 sharp spines 1 to 3 /x long, arranged in a loose spiral, elsewhere 

 marked with scattered spinules, and often with four or five 



