340 A ]\f(moffraph of the Myxogastres. 



well-defined sporangial wall in the component sporangia form- 

 ing an aethalium is what woidd be expected from analogy, and 

 in the present genus the external covering of the aethalium, the 

 cortex, consists of sterile sporangia, showing a division of labour 

 as is often the case in various parts of the vegetable kingdom, 

 when originally isolated structures become concentrated, as 

 illustrated by the ray and disc florets in composite plants. The 

 cortex is very friable, and consists largely of flake-like masses 

 of lime, and in some cases the cortex is quite rudimentary. 



Distrib. Europe; United States ; Cuba; Venezuela; S.Africa; 

 Ceylon; W. Australia; N. Zealand. Species 5. 



Fuligo varians, Rost. (figs. 190 — 192). 



Aethalium usually large, either naked, with the surface more 

 or less venous, or covered with a cortex which is either smooth 

 and continuous, or friable with flakes of lime, clear yellow, 

 brownish, or greyish-white; capillitium abundant, forming an 

 irregular network, with large irregularly branched nodes filled 

 with minute granules of yellow or white lime ; spores globose, 

 pale lilac-brown, smooth, 7 — 11 /x diameter. 



Fidigo varians, Rost., Mon., p. 134; Cooke, Myx. Brit., p. 23 ; 

 Zopf, p. 149. 



Fuligo septica, Sacc, Syll., vii., 1, n. 1228. 



Aethalium septicum, Cooke, Hdbk., n. 1101. 



Aethalium vaporarium, Cooke, Hdbk., n. 1102. 



Fxsicc.—Konm., Fung. Gall, 1678; Rabh., Fung. Eur., 81; 

 Thum., Fung. Austr., 523 ; Sacc, Myc. Ven., 963 ; Karst., Fung. 

 Fenn., 379; Kunze, Fung. Sel., 298; Fuckel, Fung. Rhen., 

 1472 ; Desm., Crypt. France, Ser. I., n. 1844. 



Amongst dead leaves, and amongst tan in greenhouses, on 

 rotten wood, &c. Biitain (Highgate, Kew, Hereford, Scarboro', 

 Appin, N. B.); S. Africa; India; W. Australia; New Zealand; 

 United States ; Cuba ; Bolivia. 



Very variable in size, form, and colour; in the plasmodium 

 condition often occurring amongst dead leaves as a bright 

 yellow soft moss, and hardening into yellow, crust-like patches. 



