Spores developed, superficially, outside the fructification, which consists of sporophores, membranous, or slender and branching; spores white, stalked. A single genus,-- =Ceratiomyxa= _Schroeter_ 1889. _Ceratiomyxa_ Schroeter, _Engl. u. Prantl_, I., i., p. 16. For further synonymy, see under first species. Sporangia none; spores superficial, borne on erect papillae or pillars, or even on the inside of minute depressions or pits; each spore surmounting a delicate pedicel or stalk. The spores on germinating give rise to amoeboid zoospores, which undergo repeated divisions, later become ciliate, and at length again amoeboid to blend into genuine plasmodia. At maturity the plasmodium gives rise to numerous minute divisions, each of which may lengthen in a direction perpendicular to the surface and bear a spore at the tip. The homologies between the structures just described and the fructification of the ordinary slime-mould are somewhat obscure, if indeed any really exist. Are these minute reproductive bodies spores?--their behavior on germination is unique; are they sporangia?--the arrested development they exhibit is none the less puzzling. Perhaps the sporiferous pillars represent incipient stipes, the spores the uncombined fragments of what might otherwise have coalesced at the summit of the pillar to form a true sporangium.[16] Several species have been recognized, all referable probably to one or two, or at most, four forms. That universally recognized alike in the literature of the past and in recent studies is,-- 1. CERATIOMYXA FRUTICULOSA (_Muell._) _Macbr._ PLATE I., Figs. 7 and 7 _a_. 1729. _Puccinia ramosa, bifurcata_, etc. Micheli, p. 213, Tab. 92, Fig. 2. 1775. _Byssus fruticulosa_ Mueller, in _Fl. Dan._, t. 718, Fig. 2. 1778. _Tremella hydnoidea_ Jacquin, _Misc._, Vol. I., t. 16. 1783. _Clavaria puccinia_ Batsch, _Elench. Fung._, p. 139, Fig. 19. 1791. _Puccinia byssoides_ Gmelin, _Syst. Naturae_, p. 1462. 1791. _Clavaria byssoides_ Bulliard, _Champ. de la France_, t. 415, Fig. 2. 1794. _Isaria mucida_ Pers., Roemer, _N. Mag. Bot._, I., p. 121. 1801. _Isaria mucida_ Pers., _Syn. Meth._, p. 688. 1805. _Ceratium hydnoides_ Alb. & Schw., _Consp. Fung._, p. 258. 1811. _Ceratiomyxa porioides_ (A. & S.) Schroet., _Mycet._, p. 26, _var._ 1829. _Ceratium hydnoides_ Fries, _Syst. Myc._, III., p. 294. 1872. _Ceratium hydnoides_ Wor. & Fam., _Mem. Acad. Imp._, Petersburg. 1887. _Ceratium hydnoides_ DeBary, _Comp. Morph. Fung._, p. 432. 1889. _Ceratiomyxa mucida_ Schroeter, _Engl. u. Prantl Nat. Pflanz._, I., i., p. 16. 1893. _Ceratiomyxa mucida_, Pers., Macbr., _Bull. Nat. Hist. Iowa_, II., p. 114. 1894. _Ceratiomyxa mucida_ Schroet., Lister, _Mycetozoa_, p. 25.