The North American Slime-Moulds Part 49

1801. _Licea flexuosa_ Pers., _Syn. Meth._, p. 197.

1911. _Licea flexuosa_ Pers., List., _Mycetozoa, 2nd ed._, p. 189.

Fructification plasmodiocarpous, elongate, hamate, annulate or irregularly repent, very dark brown, rough, the peridium of two layers, the outer closely adhering, dark brown, thick, opaque, the inner delicate, membranous, very thin, transparent, iridescent, rugulose, rupturing irregularly; hypothallus none; spores in ma.s.s pale yellow with a greenish tinge, by transmitted light nearly colorless, large, globose, minutely spinulose, 12.5 .

This is the largest species of the genus as represented in this country, the plasmodiocarps of various lengths and from .5-.7 wide. Somewhat resembling some species of _Ophiotheca_, but of much darker color. The outer peridium is deciduous, and the inner slowly ruptures, by irregular fissures discharging the spores. The plasmodium, according to Schrader, is white. Rare. Probably overlooked.

Any good reason for changing the name given to this form so well ill.u.s.trated and described by Schrader does not appear. Persoon quotes his predecessor's species and adds _L. flexuosa_ on his own account; strangely enough, since Schrader expressly describes _L. variabilis_, "in uno eodemque enim loco peridium hemispheric.u.m, ovatum, oblongum _flexuosum_ vel aliter formatum diversi est diametri."

New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa.

_Licea flexuosa_ Pers. is by Schweinitz reported from Pennsylvania. It is described as having brown spores, 10-15 , spinulose.

2. LICEA BIFORIS _Morgan._

PLATE XII., Fig. 10.

1893. _Licea biforis_ Morgan, _Jour. Cin. Soc._, p. 5.

Sporangia regular, compressed, sessile on a narrow base, gregarious; the wall firm, thin, smooth, yellow brown in color and nearly opaque, with minute, scattered granules on the inner surface, at maturity opening into two equal parts, which remain persistent by the base; spores yellow-brown in ma.s.s, globose or oval, even, 9-12 u.

Minute but perfectly regular, almost uniform, corneous-looking sporangia are thickly strewn over the inner surface of decaying bark. Each, at first elongate, pointed at each end, opens at length by fissure along the upper side setting free the minute yellowish spores. Unlike anything else; reminding one, at first sight, of some species of _Glonium_.

Inside bark of _Liriodendron_. Ohio, Canada.

3. LICEA MINIMA _Fries_.

1829. _Licea minima_ Fries, _Syst. Myc._, III., p. 199.

Sporangia gregarious, umber-brown, spherical or hemispherical, sessile; the peridium opaque, brown, opening along prefigured lines, forming segments with dotted margins, ultimately widely reflexed; spores in ma.s.s dark brown, by transmitted light paler with olive tints, minutely roughened, 10-11 .

The very minute sporangia, 3 mm., of this species cause it to be overlooked generally by collectors. Nevertheless, it may be found on decaying soft woods, in August, probably around the world. The number of sporangia produced by one plasmodium is in Iowa also small. The larger specimens might be mistaken for species of _Perichaena_, but are easily distinguished by the regular and lobate dehiscence. The plasmodium is yellow.

Dr. George Rex, in almost the last paper from his hand, gives an interesting account of this diminutive species. Among various gatherings studied he found a black variety, a melanistic phase, so to say, and was able to follow the evolution of the sporangia from the yellow plasmodium. The sutures by which the peridium opens, first show signs of differentiation by change of color from yellow through garnet to black.

Later the entire wall undergoes similar color changes, beginning next the completed sutural delimitations. Of the open peridia, the reflexed segments remind one of certain didermas, as _D. radiatum_. See _Bot.

Gaz._, Vol. XIX., p. 399.

New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Iowa.

4. LICEA PUSILLA _Schrader._

1797. _Licea pusilla_ Schrad., _Nov. Gen. Pl._, p. 19, tab. VI., f. 4.

1829. _Physarum licea_ Fries, _Syst. Myc._, III., p. 143.

1875. _Protoderma pusilla_ (Schrader) Rost., _Mon._, p 90.

Sporangia scattered, gregarious, depressed-globose, sessile on a flattened base, dark brown, shining, .5-1 mm.; peridium thin, dark colored, translucent, dehiscent above by regular segments; spore-ma.s.s almost black, spores by transmitted light olivaceous brown, smooth, or nearly so, 15-17 .

Fries, _l. c._, makes this a physarum, and argues the case at length, evidently with such efficiency that he greatly impressed Rostafinski, who did not make it a physarum indeed, but actually gave it generic place and station of its own; a physarum may do without calcium in the capillitium perhaps, but not be entirely non-calcareous; so he writes _Protoderma_ (first cover) and places the species number 1 on the long list of endosporous forms. Even in his '_Dodatek_', or supplement, as we should say, he refers to the thing again, but only to correct the inflexional ending of the specific name; he writes _Protoderma pusillum_ (Schrader) Rost!

Schweinitz reports the species for America and Morgan cites Schweinitz and reports it for Ohio, but we find it in no American collections.

_B._ ORCADELLACEae;

Sporangia distinct, minute, long stipitate, opening above by a distinct lid.

A single genus,--

=Orcadella= _Wingate_

1889. _Orcadella_ Wingate, _Proc. Phil. Acad._, p. 280.

Sporangia furnished with rigid, unpolished stipes, blending above with the substance of the thick unpolished walls; the operculum thin, delicate, membranaceous.

A single species,--

1. ORCADELLA OPERCULATA _Wingate._

PLATE XII., Fig. 11.

1889. _Orcadella operculata_ Wingate, _Proc. Phil. Acad._, p. 280.

Sporangia scattered, gregarious, ellipsoidal, ovoid, obconical or nearly globose, dull brown or blackish, the wall simple, thick, coa.r.s.e, at the top replaced by a delicate, thin, yellowish, iridescent, l.u.s.trous or vernicose membrane which forms a circular, smooth, or wrinkled lid, soon deciduous; stipe of varying height, rough from deposit of plasmodic refuse; spores, in ma.s.s yellowish, globose, smooth, 8-11 .

This curious little species, well described by its discoverer, appears to be very rare. At least it is seldom collected; overlooked by reason of its minuteness. It is a stipitate licea, or a lid-covered cribraria; perhaps nearer the former. It affects the bark of species of _Quercus_, and seems to be a.s.sociated there with _Clastoderma debaryanum. N. A.

F._, 2497.

Pennsylvania, Maine.

_C._ TUBIFERACEae

Fructification aethalioid or of distinct sporangia; sporangia well defined, tubular, often prismatic by mutual pressure, seated on a common, well-marked hypothallus, at length dehiscent by the irregular rupture of the peridium, in typical cases at the apex, its walls remaining then otherwise entire; capillitial threads in No. 3, only.

=Key to the Genera of the Tubiferaceae=

_A._ Spores olivaceous; sporangia in one or several series, 1. LINDBLADIA

_B._ Spores umber; sporangia in a single series 2. TUBIFERA

_C._ Sporangia stipitate; capillitium of tubular threads 3. ALWISIA

=1. Lindbladia= _Fries_