PLASMODIUM FORMATION AND CONJUGATION 55 



protoplasm of which divides into spores. In Protomyxa and 

 the Mycetozoa not two but several Amcebulae unite to form 

 a plasmodium which after a time becomes encysted and 

 breaks up into spores. So that we might look upon the 

 conjugation of Heteromita as an extremely simple plasmo- 

 dial phase in its life-history, or upon the formation of a 

 plasmodium by Protomyxa and the Mycetozoa as a process 

 of multiple conjugation. 



There is, however, an important difference between the 

 two cases by reason of which the analogy is far from complete. 

 In Heteromita the nuclei of the two gametes are no longer 

 visible (p. 41) : they coalesce during conjugation, and 

 subsequently, in all probability, break up to form the nuclei 

 of the spores. In the Mycetozoa neither fusion nor apparent 

 disappearance of the nuclei of the amoebulae has been 

 observed. 



