The Myxomycetes of the Miami Valley, Ohio. 147 



ARTICLE XVI. — THE MYXOMYCETES OF THE 

 MIAMI VALEEY, OHIO. 



By A. P. Morgan. 



Fifth Paper. 



(Read November 7, 1899.) 



Systems of Classification of the Myxomycftes. 



The milky or bright-colored strands and soft masses of the 

 Plasmodium must indeed have arrested the attention of the 

 earliest observers, but it is plain that not much could be 

 known of the Myxomycetes until the microscope had attained 

 to considerable perfection. The study of them kept pace 

 with that of the smaller fungi, and by the Linnaean writers 

 they were fancifully distributed among the genera of these 

 in accordance with their superficial appearance. 



The earliest notice of any form of Myxomycetes is com- 

 monly assigned to Ray (1696), but Haller, in the Historia, 

 attributes the origin of the terms Mucilago and Lycogala to 

 Bonanni (1684). The two species mentioned by Ray (1696) 

 were the Arcyria punicea and Lycogala miniata of Persoon. 

 Ruppius (17 18) described quite elaborately the Stemonitzs 

 fusca of Fries. In 1727, Marchand, of the French Academy 

 of Sciences, brought to the notice of that body a " fungus 

 production" which grew on tan, and which he called "fleur 

 de tan ; " he placed it under the phrase " Spongia fugax, 

 mollis, flava, et amoena," as quoted by Haller and Linnaeus. 

 Micheli (1729) had a true conception of the myxomycetes; 

 he observed their early mucilaginous state, and the intei min- 

 gled spores and filaments of their mature condition. He fig- 

 ured and described the species known to him, and nearly all 

 are distinguishable at the present time. Although classing 

 them with Mucor and Lycoperdon, they were kept distinct in 

 separate genera. We present, as follows, Micheli's account 

 of the Myxomycetes observed by him : 



(Jour. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist.,Vol. XIX, No. 5.) 1 



Printed January 4, 1900. 



