CIENKOJVSKIA 111 



ClENKOWSKIA RETICULATA (Alb. & SchlV.) Rost. 



Plate XIV., Figs. 2, 2 a, 2 b. 



1805. Physarum reticulatum Alb. & Schw., Cons. Fung., p. 90. 



1829. Diderma reticulatum Fr., Syst. Myc, III., p. 112. 



1873. Cienkoivskia reticulata (Alb. & Schw.) Rost., Versuch, p. 9. 



Plasmodiocarp an elongated, irregularly limited, close-meshed net, 

 closely applied to the substratum, the wall thin, transversely rugulose, 

 and roughened, dull orange-yellow, splashed here and there with 

 scarlet, anon entirely red, within marked by transverse calcareous 

 ridges, supporting in part the calcareous system of the capillitium ; 

 capillitium of delicate, rigid, reticulating yellow tubules or threads 

 with numerous free, uncinate or sickle-shaped branchlets, and large, 

 irregular, calcareous plates, more or less transverse to the axis of the 

 sporangium, attached to the peridial walls, as if to form septa, ordi- 

 nary calcareous nodules few; spore-mass jet-black, spores, by trans- 

 mitted light, violaceous, minutely roughened, 9-10 /x. 



A very rare species, as it appears, easily recognized by the Codding- 

 ton even, much more by the microscopic characters quoted ; probably 

 often overlooked by the collector, as to the naked eye it presents the 

 appearance of some imperfectly developed, dried-up Plasmodium. 

 Very unlike Physarum serpula Morgan, not infrequently offered by 

 collectors as Cienkoivskia. It is Diderma reticulatum of Fries, who, 

 strangely enough, thought it might be a plasmodial phase of Diderma 

 (i. e. Leocarpus) fragile (Syst. Myc, III., p. 102). 



Eastern United States, Europe, Java, Ceylon, California. See 

 under L. fragilis, next following. 



7. Leocarpus (Link) Rost. 



1809. Leocarpus Link, Diss., I., p. 25. 



Sporangia sessile, or short stipitate ; peridial wall double, the outer 

 thick, destitute of lime, polished, shining within and without, the 

 inner very delicate, enclosing the capillitium and spores; capillitium 

 of two, more or less, distinct systems, the one a delicate network of 

 hyaline, limeless threads, the other calcareous throughout, or nearly 

 so, the meshes large and the threads or tubules broad ; columella 

 none, although a pseudo-columella may sometimes be detected. 



