CRATERIUM.] 
PHYSARACEiE. 
73 
fi'om the centre to the circumference. Those in the lime-knots are 
somewhat globuhir, and are often in clusters ; they vary from 5 /a to 
about 20 fji diam., and dissolve rapidly in dilute carbolic acid. (Noted 
in the Kew coll., 1888.— A. L.) Fhysarum scyphoides 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 sporangia. C. cylinclricum Mass. is a form of C. leuco- 
cejphcdum 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. niutabile Fr., 
1455 Fung. Ehen. Exs. (B. M. 481, K. 300), (C. Fuckelii Mass.), is a 
subglobose form of C. leucocephalum with the lime in the sporangium- 
wall almost absent; the spores measure 9 to 10 ji 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. letccocephalum ; the sporangia are rufous below, white and 
pruinose in the upper part ; the capillitium shows a pseudo-columella, 
and the spores are typical. 
Jffab. 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. 
diam., 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 Hme-knots, not always present. Stalk cylindrical, 0-2 
to 0'5 mm. long, stout, deeply furrowed, nearly ti-anslucent, 
but charged with lime-granules, orange-red or yellow, arising 
from a circular hypothallus. Capillitium of irregularly shaped 
yellow Hme-knots, varying much in size, connected by a network 
of hyaline threads with triangular expansions at the axils of the 
branches. Spores violet-brown, spinulose, 8 to 9 /x diam. — Wallr., 
M. Crypt. Germ., ii., p. 357. Trichia aurea Schum., En. PI. 
Saell,, ii,, p. 207 (1803). Craterium aureum Rest., 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 ; c. 
capillitium and spores, with fragment of sporangium-wall, x 280 ; /. 
spore, X GOO (England). 
Hah. On dead leaves, etc.— Lyme Regis, Dorset (L:B.M.49) ; Luton, 
Beds. (L:B.M.49) ; Batheaston, Somerset (B. M. 133) ; Appin, 
