7. Cytidium penetrale Rex. Sporangium ellipsoidal or pyriform, stipitate; the wall a thin pellucid membrane, covered with small scales of lime, yellow-gray to greenish-yellow, rupturing at maturity into two to four segments. Stipe long, slender, translucent, pale red to dark red in color, tapering upward, entering the sporangium and prolonged nearly to the apex as a slender columella. Capillitium of very slender tubules, radiating from numerous points of the columella, forming a delicate net-work of very small meshes, scarcely expanded at the angles; the nodules of lime small, not numerous, roundish or obtusely angled, white or yellowish. Spores globose, very minutely warted, pale violaceous, 5.5–6.5 mic. in diameter.
Growing on old wood. A rare and singular species. Sporangium .5-.7 mm. in height by .3-.5 mm. in diameter, the stipe two or three times the height of the sporangium. There is an affinity between this species and the Physarella. The obscure Tilmadoche hians Rost., may be the same as the present species. [See Plate XIII. Fig. 54.]
- Fig. 49.—Angioridium sinuosum Bull. a. Plasmodiocarp × 5 b. Capillitium and spores × 500.
- Fig. 50.—Cienkowskia reticulata A. & S. a. Plasmodiocarp × 5. b. Piece of plasmodiocarp × 90. c. Capillitium and spores × 500.
- Fig. 51. Leocarpus fragilis Dicks, a. Sporangia × 5. b. Capillitium and spores × 500.
- Fig. 52.—Leocarpus caespitosus Schw. a. Sporangia × 5. b. Capillitium and spores × 500.
- Fig. 53.—Physarella oblonga B. & C. a. Sporangia × 5. b. Sporangia × 90. c. Capillitium and spores × 500.
- Fig 54—Cytidium penetrale Rex. a. Sporangia × 5 b. Sporangia and columella × 90. c. Capillitium and spores × 500.
- Fig. 55.—Cytidium globuliferum Bull. a. Sporangia × 5. b. Sporangia × 90. c. Columella × 90 d. Capillitium and spores × 500.
The Journal of the Cin. Soc. Natural History
Vol. XIX. Plate XIII.
Morgan on Myxomycetes
VI. CRATERIUM Trent. Sporangium obovoid to cylindric, stipitate; the upper and usually greater part of the wall covered with granules of lime, the basal portion naked and more persistent. Stipe short or sometimes elongated, arising from a small circular hypothallus, longitudinally plicate, confluent above and similarly colored with the base of the sporangium. Capillitium of tubules, forming a loose network, bearing numerous large angular and irregular nodules of lime, which are often confluent along the axis of the sporangium into a pseudo-columella. Spores globose, minutely warted, violaceous.
In this genus the sporangium is commonly obovoid, with a naked base which is confluent with the stipe and similarly colored; after dehiscence there is left behind the more persistent cyathiform portion standing on the substratum.
§1. Eu-Craterium. Sporangium at maturity dehiscent in a regular circumscissile manner, the apex falling away as a lid, leaving behind the more persistent cup-shaped portion.
1. Craterium minutum Leers. Sporangium cyathiform, stipitate; the lid slightly convex, discrete from the first, usually depressed below the rim of the cup, falling away at maturity, and leaving a smooth, circular margin to the lower cyathiform portion. The wall a thick, firm, yellow-brown membrane, the outer surface of the cup entirely naked, smooth and shining, varying greatly in color from alutaceous or ochraceous to various shades of brown; the lid usually whitened by a thin layer of granules of lime. Stipe short, erect or bent, and slightly curved at the apex, varying in color from rusty yellow to reddish brown, longitudinally plicate, arising from a small, circular hypothallus. Capillitium of tubules forming a loose net-work, bearing large, irregular, white nodules of lime, which are sometimes confluent in the axis of the sporangium. Spores globose, very minutely warted, violaceous, 8–10 mic. in diameter.