SLIME FUNGI— MYXOMYCETES 



3*5 



the capillitium is much swollen at the nodes, enclosing lime ; 

 whilst Tilmadoche has small nodes containing 

 lime, and Badhamia has thick threads in* the 

 capillitium, containing lime throughout. In Gra- 

 terium the form of the sporangium more or less 

 resembles a wine-glass, closed by a lid or operculum 



(Fig. 146). The re- 

 maining genera are 

 small, consisting of a 

 single species in each. 



The last of the four 

 order sis the Calotricheae, 

 in which the capillitium 

 is for the most part 

 highly developed, and 

 the sporangia have no 

 external deposit of lime. 

 The two subdivisions are 

 Tricheae and Arcyriae ; in the former the threads of 

 the capillitium are free, and do not anastomose, 

 whilst in the latter they are attached by one end, 

 or combined into a network. The Tricheae include two genera, 



;Fiq. 146. — Craterium, natural size 

 and magnified. 



Fig. 145.— 

 Diachaea, 

 with capil- 

 litium and 

 columella 

 exposed. 



the principal being Trichia, in which the threads are spiral 



Fig. 147.— Threads and 

 spores of Trichia. 



Fig. 148. — Arcyria, with portion of 

 capillitium magnified. 



(Fig. 147), and Oligonema, in which there are no distinct spirals. 

 The seven genera of the Arcyriae are partly known by the char- 

 acter of the capillitium, of which the largest genus is Arcyria, 

 having the threads combined into a network which becomes 

 naked or protruded at maturity (Fig. 148). Two other genera, 



