20 THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS 



cially after warm showers and in sultry weather. Easily distinguish- 

 able from all similar moulds by the absence of mycelium or of any- 

 thing like a hypha. In Europe the plant seems to be in autumn ex- 

 ceedingly common. Micheli not only described the form but figured 

 it, nearly two hundred years ago. Micheli's figure is good, as is that 

 of Mueller, Fl. Dan., 1. c. Mueller referred the species to a Linnean 

 genus Byssus, which seems to have included Algae rather than any- 

 thing else, if one can determine its limits at all. The same thing is 

 true of Tremella; but this name is now otherwise applied, as are all 

 the other generic names down to Ceratium, Alb. & Schw. But this 

 had been by Schrank preoccupied, 1793. See the reference above for 

 1889. As for specific name, there seems no reason to depart from 

 the rule of priority, since Mueller's work is determinative. 



Ceratiomyxa arbuscula. Berk. & Br., apparently a form of this, is 

 cited from Toronto by Miss Currie. Massee gives it recognition; 

 Lister as varietal. The sporophores are inclined to be simple, stipi- 

 tate and dendroid. 



C. filiforme of the English authors latest named is a wonderful 

 thing and deserves a paragraph here, if not recognition as a distinct 

 species. It occurs rarely; but once it appears, attracts attention. As 

 in the historic species, the sporifers are white, stand more or less erect, 

 but are every way finer and larger. Each individual sporifer rises 

 like a stiff stem, as of white thread, 2—3 mm. high ; at top a tuft of 

 fruiting branchlets, more or less distinct. All taken together, w^e 

 have a dense mat completely concealing the substratum and spread- 

 ing out sometimes over an area of surprising extent, several centi- 

 metres square. 



Common everywhere in summer on decaying sticks and wood of 

 every description, especially in wet places. Alaska to Nicaragua,and 

 probably around the world. 



2. Ceratiomyxa porioides {Alb. &" Schw.) Schroeter. 



1805. Ceratium porioides Alb. & Schw., Consp. Fung., p. 359. 



1829. Ceratium porioides Fries, Syst. Myc, III., p. 295. 



1873. Ceratium porioides Fam. & Won Acad. Imp., XX., 3, p. 5. 



1889. Ceratiomyxa porioides Schroet., Engl. u. Prantl, I., i., p. 16. 



