304 
LISTER : THE HAUNTS OF THE MYCETOZOA. 
On fir wood also occur (though not on that only) the purple- 
brown tufts of Stemonitis splendens, the jewel-like sporangia of 
Lamproderma echinulatum and the red fluffy masses of Arcyvia 
Oerstedtii. If the timber is much decayed, it will often produce’ 
in summer time, sheets of the white fleecy sporophores of Cera- 
tiomyxa. 
On old fallen pine boughs, barked and green with algal 
growth, we may look for the dark sporangia of Dianema cortica- 
tum, and some of those 'small species of Comatricha that are 
hard to see without a lens. 
Pine and larch needles, unmixed with other leaves, do not 
form a rich feeding ground, although one may sometimes find 
under pine trees such large growths of Didymium melanospermum 
as to form hoary patches on the brown carpet of needles. 
Sawdust-Heaps formed from cutting up fir logs are often 
prolific in Mycetozoa. I remember some old deep beds of saw¬ 
dust near Forres that were gay with patches, many inches 
across, of the yellow Fuligo septica and of young rosy Trickia 
decipiens. Such a showy effect was produced that an attempt was 
made to perpetuate the scene by means of colour photography. 
Among other species which have been found in abundance 
on such sawdust beds are Cribraria pyriformis and Dictydium 
cancellatum. 
Turning to woods formed of Deciduous Trees, one is almost 
overwhelmed by the wealth of species such habitats afford. 
Beeches usually stand on well-drained ground. Their living 
trunks, however, overgrown with moss and lichen (as they 
often are near the base), may prove a more favourable haunt 
for Mycetozoa than we yet realize. The first English gathering 
of Diderma arboreum was made last winter by Dr. Adams, on 
a mossy beech trunk in Cornwall ; and our only English record 
i 
for that inconspicuous little species, Orcadella operculata, was 
made by Mr. W. H. Burrell on a living beech trunk in Norfolk. 
On decaying beech logs many of our commoner wood-feeding 
Mycetozoa abound, such as Physarum nutans, with its protean 
varieties, the flat brown cakes of Dictydiaethalium, and the 
crimson Arcyria denudata. 
Oaks are favourable for Mycetozoa that feed both on dead 
wood and dead leaves, and even their living trunks have afforded 
a number of species. On lichen- and moss-grown oaks, standing 
