66 ENDOSPORE.E. [fULIGO. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF FULIGO. 



^thalia and lime-knots yellow or variously coloured : — 



Spores nearly smooth, 7 to 10 ft diam. (1) F. septica 



Spores spinulose, 10 to 11 /«, diam. (2) F. ochracea 



^thaHa and lime-knots pure white. (3) F. dlipsospora 



1. F. septica Gmelin, Syst. Nat., p. 1466 (1791). Plasmodium 

 yellow, ^thalia pulvinate, varying much in size, from 2 mm. to 

 20 cm., broad, yellow, pinkish or dull white or reddish-brown. 

 The sporangia constituting the sethalium are intricately coiled 

 and anastomosing, 2 to 2 '5 mm. broad, with air spaces in the 

 intervals which permeate the mass. The cortex is sometimes 

 wanting, when the surface is grey and marked with brain-like 

 convolutions. Sporangium-walls within the sethalium membran- 

 ous, very fragile, colourless, with scattered deposits of lime-granules. 

 Columella none. Oapillitium very variable, a loose network of 

 slender hyaline threads more or less expanded at the axils, with 

 rounded, fusiform, or branching yellow or whitish lime-knots, 

 varying much in size. Spores violet, almost smooth, 6 to 10 /a 

 diam. — Blytt, Bidr. N"org., Sop. iii. (1892), p. 5. Mucor septicus 

 Linn., Sp. PI, Ed. 2, p. 1656 (1763). Puligo varians Somm., Fl. 

 Lap., p. 239; Eost., Mon., p. 134; Cooke, Myx. Brit., p. 23; 

 Mass., Mon., p. 340; Macbride, in Bull. Nat. Hist. Iowa, ii., p. 160. 

 Mthalium septicum Fr., Syst. Myc, iii., p. 93 ; Cooke, Handbook, 

 No. 1101. Physa'fwn gyroswn Host., Mon., p. 111. Physarv/m 

 cerebrinum Mass., Mon., p. 306. Licea Lindheimeri Berk., in 

 Grev., ii., p. 68. TuhvMna Lindheimeri Mass., Mon., p. 42. 



Plate XXIV., A. — a. a small part of an ecorticate sethalium, nearly 

 resembling the type of Physarum gyrosum, Eost., x 20 ; J. oapillitium with 

 fragment of sporangium-wall and spores, x 280 ; c. spore, x 600 (England) ; 

 d. oapillitium and subellipsoid spores from a cortioate sethalium, x 280 

 (Black Forest, Germany). 



Rostafinski's type specimen of Physarum gyrosum Rest, from Berlin 

 in the Strassburg collection consists of minute pinkish sethalia of Fuligo 

 septica 2 to 3 mm. broad, without superficial cortex. He quotes 

 Beticularia muscorum Fr. (Syst. Myc, iii., p. 91), as a synonym for 

 P. gyrosum ; it appears probable from Fries' description that his 

 species was also a small ecorticate form of F. septica. In the type 

 specimen of Licea Lindheimeri Berk, from Texas (K. 1648) only the 

 basal part of an aethalium .remains ; it is an orange form of Fuligo 

 septica with scanty delicate oapillitium and violet spores measuring 5 

 to 7 Ii. The type of Physarum cerebrinum Mass., produced in a hot- 

 house at Kew (K. 196), is also a form of F. septica with no cortex 

 developed over the convoluted sporangia ; it is found that if the rising 

 Plasmodium is protected by a bell-glass from currents of dry air, the 

 outer sporangia develop as well as the inner, and no cortex of barren 

 sporangia is formed. 



Hai. On rotten wood, tan, etc. — Common. Leytonstone, Essex ; 

 Lyme Regis, Dorset (L:B.M.40) ; Highgate (B. M. 155) ; Europe 

 (B. M. 461, 463) ; South Africa (K. 232) ; Australia (B. M. 468) ; 

 New Zealand (K. 201) ; N. America (B. M. 813). 



