FULIGO 25 



of fructification, to all appearing sufficiently constant for specific 

 recognition. 



It will be said, has been said, was said by Fries, that these vari- 

 ations are insignificant, "pendent ex seris constitutione" ; but as a 

 matter of fact the several types now in question may be found on the 

 same day, so that evidently something other than the atmospheric 

 environment must determine. 



Again it is said that the differences are in external form or color 

 only, the spores in all cases almost if not quite the same. This is 

 true; but specific characters are surf (ice characters in fact: a species 

 morphologically is merely the form in which a kind or genus presents 

 itself. If the presentation be constant, for our convenience we say so, 

 in bestowing a name. Whether in our present treatment the con- 

 venience is purely personal, students may decide. 



However it all may be, there are in this part of the world many 

 varying presentations of Fuligo capable of illustration and descrip- 

 tion ; the same forms, perhaps, which have attracted the notice of the 

 more acute mycologists in the older history of the subject. Some of 

 these forms we here venture to describe, with such annotation as may 

 show something of present knowledge. 



Key to the Species of Fuligo 



A. ^thalium 1 cm. or less; spores spherical . . \. F. muscorum 



B. i^thalium larger, or plasmodiocarpous, even sporangi-form, crust white, 



smooth, even, spores elliptical 2. F. cinerea 



C. ^thalia larger, 2 cm. or more. 



1. Cortex yellovp, etc., not white; spores 6-8 M . 3. F. septica 



2. Cortex nearly or quite wanting; spores 10-12 4. F. intermedia 



3. Cortex white, a foamy crust; spores 15-25 5. F. megaspora 



1. Fuligo muscorum Alb. ^ Schiv. 



1894. Fuliffo muscorum, Alb. & Schw. Lister, Mycetozoa, p. 67. 



1875. Licea ochracea Peck, N. Y. Rep., XVIII., p. 55. 



1879. Fuligo ochracea Peck, N. Y. Rep., XXXI., p. 56. 



1894. Fuligo muscorum, Alb. & Schw., Lister, Mycetozoa, p. 67. 



1911. Fuligo muscorum Alb. & Schw., Lister, Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 87. 



