CEATERIUM.J PHYSARACEvB. 73 



from the centre to the circumference. Those in the lime-knots are 

 somewhat globular, and are often in clusters ; they vary from & fi to 

 about 20 fi diam., and dissolve rapidly in dilute carbolic acid. (Noted 

 in the Kew coll., 1888^— A. L.) Physarum soyphoides Cke. & Balf. 

 appears to be a form of C. leucocephalum ; the sporangium-wall 

 ( X 560) is veined with yellow, and possesses the colourless pits charged 

 with lime-granules of the type, from which it only differs in the more 

 delicate wall in the upper part, and in the somewhat obovoid shape of 

 some of the sporangi^a. 0. cylindricum Mass. is a form of C. leuco- 

 cephalum with cylindrical sporangia ; and in no other character does 

 it differ from the broader type, with which it is connected by inter- 

 mediate links. The specimen issued by Fuckel as C. mutabile Fr., 

 1455 Fung. Ehen. Exs. (B. M. 481, K. 300), (G Fuchelii Mass.), is a 

 subglobose form of C. leucocephalum with the lime in the sporangium- 

 wall almost absent ; the spores measure 9 to 10 /* diam., and are 

 minutely spinulose. C. minimum, Berk. & Curt, is represented in 

 Ravenel's collection, B. M. 873, " fide Berkeley." It is the cylindrical 

 form of C leucocephalum ; the sporangia are rufous below, white and 

 prninose in the upper part ; the capillitium shows a pseudo-columella, 

 and the spores are typical. 



Hal. On dead leaves. — ^Wanstead, Essex (L:B.M.48) ; Luton, Beds. 

 (L:B.M.48); France (K. 282); Germany (B. M. 471); Austria 

 (B. M. 1058) ; Sweden (K. 298) ; Italy (K. 297) ; Java (Strassb. 

 Herb.) ; Pennsylvania (L:B.M.48) ; Ohio (L:B.M.48) ; Georgia 

 (B. M. 455) ; Brazil (K. 274). 



5. C. mutabile Fries, Syst. Myc, iii., p. 154 (1829), non Symb. 

 Gast. Plasmodium lemon-yellow, among dead leaves. Total 

 height 0-7 to 1 mm. Sporangia ovoid or globose, 0-4 to 0-6 mm. 

 diapi., stipitate, erect, gregarious, rugose, without a defined lid, 

 golden yellow or greenish, bright yellow on the summit, breaking 

 up at maturity in the upper part into areolae, or dehiscing almost 

 to the base in stellate lobes ; sporangium- wall single, membranous, 

 with deposits of innate yellow lime-granules, which are denser 

 and of a deeper yellow on the summit, somewhat stouter and 

 more persistent at the base, where it is continued into the 

 cartilaginous stalk. Columella represented by a central mass of 

 confluent lime-knots, not always present. Stalk cylindrical, 0-2 

 to 0-5 mm. long, stout, deeply furrowed, nearly translucent, 

 but charged with lime-granules, orange-red or yellow, arising 

 from a circular hypothallus. CapUlitium of irregularly shaped 

 yellow lime-knots, varying much in size, consected by a network 

 of hyaline threads with triangular expansions at the axils 6i the 

 branches. Spores violet-brown, spinulose, 8 to 9 /a diam. — Wallr., 

 Fl. Crypt. Germ., ii., p. 357. Trichia aurea Schum., En. PI. 

 Saell., ii., p. 207 (1803). Grateriwm awreum Eost., Mon., p. 124 

 (1875) ; Cooke, Myx. Brit., p. 20 ; Mass., Mon., p. 269. 



Plate XXVIII., A. — a. to d. sporangia of various forms, x 20 ; e, 

 capillitium and spores, with fragment of sporangium-wall, x 280 ; /. 

 spore, X 600 (England). 



Hah. On dead leaves, etc. — Ljnme Eegis, Dorset (L:B.M.49) ; Luton, 

 Beds. (L:B.M.49) ; Batheaston, Somerset (B. M. 133) ; Appin, 



