106
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
usually appears on mossy trunks. All previous gatherings had pale
flaccid capillitium.
The following is a list of the species noted.
Badhamia utricularis Berk. Conspicuous fans of the orange plasmodium,
many inches across, were found extending from one end of a prostrate
log to the other, and spreading also over the fallen dead leaves heaped
along its side.
Physarum nutans Pers. The typical form with slender stalks and nodding
sporangia was found, and also the stout-stalked var. leucophaeum, and
the var. robustum in which the walls and lime-knots are richly stored
with deposits of lime.
Physarum cinereum Pers. On holly leaf.
Fuligo septica (L.) Gmel. an old specimen.
Craterium minutum (Leers) Fries. Abundant on dead holly leaves.
Diderma radiatum (L.) Morgan, var. umbilicatum Meyl., on dead wood.
Didymium squamulosum (Alb. and Schw.) Fries. On dead holly leaves.
D. nigripes (Link.) Fries., on dead holly leaves.
Colloderma oculatum (Lippert.) G. Lister. On a log.
Stemonitis fusca Roth. On wood.
S. ferruginea Ehrenb. On wood.
Comatricha nigra (Pers.) Schroet. On sticks.
C. typhoides (Bull.) Rost. On a log.
C. pulchella (C. Bab.) Rost. On dead holly leaves.
Lamproderma scintillans (Berk. and Br.) Morgan. On dead holly leaves.
L. violaceum (Somm.) Rost., on a log.
Lycogala epidendrum (L.) Fries., on dead wood.
Trichia varia Pers., abundant on dead wood.
T. persimilis Karsten, on dead wood.
T. scabra Rost., on dead wood.
T. decipiens (Pers.) Macbr., on dead wood, maturing from white plas-
modium.
T. Botrytis Pers., on logs.
Arcyria denudata (L.) Wellst., on dead wood.
A. incarnata Pers., var. fulgens Lister, on a log.
Perichaena corticalis (Batsch.) Rost., on poplar logs.
Mr. Ross spoke of the remarkable persistence of certain forms of
mycetozoa in known stations: he referred especially to the case of Collo-
derma oculatum which to his knowledge had unfailingly appeared on a cer-
tain log for the past nineteen years.
Mr. Sherrin reported a total of 48 mosses as having been noted
during the day, this total including three sphagna; 9 hepatics had been
seen.
Mr. Thompson's list of lichens amounted to 18 forms, which he con-
sidered a fair total in the circumstances. The more interesting forms
included Cladonia sylvatica, one of the two "reindeer mosses" which
form a favourite food of the reindeer in sub-arctic regions, and Lecidea
ostreata, an interesting form with densely imbricated squamular thallus
found growing on tree-trunks. He added some observations on the
persistence of individual forms in confirmation of Mr. Ross's observations.
Thanks to the several conductors ended the meeting.