282 A Monograph of the Myxogastres. 



last-named genus. Sometimes two or three sporangia are 

 seated on a common stem, forming a plasmodiocarp. 



Physarum scyphoides, Cke. and Balf. (fig. 231). 



Sporangia globose or broadly obovate, stipitate, nppcr portion 

 of wall whitish, rough with amorphous lumps of lime, lasal 

 portion bright Iro^on, persistent as a very shalloiu, irregular cup ; 

 stem almost equal to sporangium in length, hright hroivn, erect, 

 usually attenuated upwards, irregularly wrinkled and often 

 compressed and twisted, expanding at the base into a minute, 

 brown hypothallus ; capillitium dense, knots of lime white or 

 yellowish, very numerous, large, irregularly hranehed, connected 

 by short, thin, colourless portions, becoming concentrated 

 towards the base to form a columella ; spore globose, pale lilac- 

 brown, minutely warted, 7 — 9 ju diameter. 



Physarum seyphpides, Cke. and Balf., in E.av., Fung. Amer., 

 Exs., 480 (without description) ; Mass., Journ. Mycol, vol, v., 

 p. 186, t. 14, f. 7 (1889). 



On living leaves, grass, &c. Darien, Georgia ; (Rav., 2407). 

 (Type in Herb., Kew.) 



A very fine species, about 1 mm. high, scattered or gregarious ; 

 the upper portion of the sporangium is whitish, with sometimes 

 a suggestion of pink, falling away in patches when mature, and 

 leaving the small, thicker, basal portion in the form of an 

 irregular shallow cup or disc, which, with the character of the 

 capillitium, suggest a leaning towards the genus Cratcrium. 



Physarum Readeri, Mass. (n. sp.). 



Sporangium stipitate, spherico-depressed, plane or slightly 

 umbilicate below, greyish, covered ivith distinct hut closely arranged 

 'white, innate fiahes of lime ; stem equal to or longer than the 

 sporangium, very thicJc, equal, broivn, longitudinally rugulose, 

 expanding into a broad, dark-brown hypothallus, filled with 

 masses of lime and organic matter; capillitium absent, but 

 when the sporangium is empty a brown spot is seen at the 

 base which corresponds to the apex of the stem ; capillitium 



