CHAPTER XIII 



MYXOMYCETES AND SCHIZOPHYTES 

 MYXOMYCETES 



With the exception of a few forms like Fuligo (often found on 

 oak stumps and on oak bark in tanyards), the myxomycetes are 

 small, and are usually overlooked by collectors (Fig. 26). A careful 

 examination of rotting logs in moist woods will usually reveal an 

 abundance of these delicate and beautiful organisms. Various 



species may be found in spring, 

 summer, and autumn. The plas- 

 modia are most abundant just 

 after a warm shower. A couple of 

 days of dry weather will then 

 bring sporangia in abundance. 

 The specimens should be pinned to 

 the bottom of the box for safe car- 

 rying. An excellent collecting-box 

 can be made from an ordinary 

 paper shoe-box. On the bottom 

 of the box place a thin piece of soft pine, or a piece of the cor- 

 rugated paper so commonly used in packing; or, better still, a sheet 

 of cork. At each end nail in a piece of pine half an inch thick and 

 an inch high. Upon these end pieces place a thin piece of pine, thus 

 making a second bottom, which, of course, should not be fastened. 

 A second pair of ends with a third pine bottom nailed to them may 

 rest upon the second bottom. The three bottoms will give a con- 

 siderable surface upon which the material may be pinned. For 

 most purposes, the specimens are simply allowed to dry, and are 

 then fastened with glue or paste to the bottom of a small box. 

 Plasmodia and young sporangia may be fixed in chromo-acetic 

 acid or Flemming's fluid. Sections are easily cut in paraffin, and 

 should not be more than 5 fj. in thickness; for nuclear details, sections 



152 



FIG. 26. Myxomycetes growing on 

 rotten wood: A, Hemiarcyriarubiformis, 

 X20; B, Stemonitis ferruginea, natural 

 size; C, Trichia varia, XI?. 



