Growing on mosses, old leaves, sticks, etc.; not common. Aethalia in irregular patches 2–4 cm. or more in extent, sometimes almost reduced to a simple plasmodiocarp. This species furnishes a clear notion of the structure of the aethalium in the other species, on account of the sporangia being but loosely compacted and not entirely grown together. The Fuligo vaporaria Pers., of the green-houses and gardens I have never seen; the Mucor septicus Linn., was thought to be the plasmodium of this. Linnæus's description is simply "Mucor unctuosus flavus." [See Plate XV. Fig. 67.]
§2. Aethaliopsis Zopf. Aethalium small; lime abundant in the capillitium, the nodules numerous and large, angular and irregular.
4. Fuligo muscorum A. & S. Plasmodium effused, golden yellow. Aethalium small, subpulvinate, irregular, the surface furnished with scattered, irregular scales of lime, whitish or ochraceous to golden yellow in color, arising from a thin, white, membranaceous hypothallus. Sporangia closely packed and grown together; the walls a thin, violaceous membrane, rugulose, with a thin, closely adherent layer of granules of lime. Capillitium a loose net-work of tubules, widely expanded at the angles; the tubules for the most part filled with lime, the nodules white or yellowish, numerous, very large, angular and irregular, sometimes confluent with pointed lobes and branchlets. Spores irregularly globose, minutely warted, dark violaceous, 9–11 mic. in diameter.
Growing on leaves, twigs, mosses, etc. Aethalium from 2 or 3 mm. to a centimeter or more in extent. I have a specimen of Fuligo simulans Karsten, from Karsten himself; it is identical with my specimens of Fuligo ochracea Peck. There could be no better representation of these specimens made at that time than the description and figure of Fuligo muscorum A. & S., in the Conspectus.
5. Fuligo cinerea Schw. Plasmodium milk-white, changing to cinereous. Aethalium effused, variable in extent, the surface rugulose and perforate, white, the hypothallus thin or scarcely evident. Sporangia variously contracted and grown together, forming a dense reticulum; the walls a thin pellucid membrane, with a thick white outer layer of granules of lime. Capillitium a loose net-work of tubules, widely expanded at the angles, the tubules for the most part filled, with lime, the nodules white, numerous, very large, angular, and irregular, lobed and branched. Spores globose or oval, minutely warted, dark violaceous, 10–15 × 10–12 mic.
Growing on old leaves, herbaceous stems, etc. I find it most abundantly about the horse barn, upon the old straw and manure, sometimes running out onto the green herbage. Aethalium from a few millimeters to several centimeters in extent. Upon the testimony of Dr. Geo. A. Rex this is both Enteridium cinereum and Lachnobolus cinereus of Schweinitz's North American Fungi as represented in his herbarium. It is Physarum ellipsosporum of Rostafinski. It is no doubt also Aethaliopsis stercoriformis Zopf. [See Plate XV. Fig. 68.]
IX. BADHAMIA Berk. Sporangia large, subglobose or obovoid, sometimes depressed, substipitate or sessile; the wall a thin membrane, with an outer layer of minute roundish granules of lime, irregularly dehiscent. Stipe poorly developed, sometimes a mere strip of the hypothallus, often wanting. Capillitium of thick tubules, attached on all sides to the wall of the sporangium, combined into a net-work of large meshes, more or less expanded at the angles; the tubules containing minute roundish granules of lime throughout their whole extent. Spores large, subglobose, dark violaceous.
The peculiar character of this genus is that the granules of lime are distributed along the whole interior of the tubules of the capillitium; this makes the net-work rigid, and on this account a firmer support for the wall of the sporangium.
1. Badhamia capsulifera Bull. Sporangia subglobose or obovoid, sessile, on a thin pallid or yellowish hypothallus, which sometimes sends out narrow bands or strings of membrane of variable length, bearing sporangia singly or in clusters. Wall of the sporangium a thin pellucid membrane, mostly even or somewhat rugulose and iridescent, coated by a very thin layer of white granules of lime. Capillitium of rather slender tubules, forming an open net-work of very large meshes, only slightly expanded at the angles; the tubules coated within by a very thin layer of white granules of lime. Spores subglobose or obovoid, adhering together in clusters of six to twenty or more, distinctly warted on the outer exposed surface, dark violaceous, 10–13 mic. in diameter.
Growing on old bark, leaves, etc. Sporangia .8–1.4 mm. in diameter. Badhamia hyalina and B. capsulifera of Rostafinski's monograph are here included together; he distinguished the former by the "sporangia in clusters always exactly globose," a distinction first made by Chevallier; otherwise the characters are the same in both.