586 Journal of Applied Microscopy. 



Fuligo is among the earliest, and its creamy, unctuous plasmodium may be found 

 seated on stumps, or ascending to the height of several feet, the stems of trees, 

 in quantity to be scooped up by the hand. On an old pine log in the Black 

 Hills in South Dakota, I once came across the plasmodium of Litidbladia effusa 

 (Ehr.) Rost, more than two feet in length and some six inches in width. Plas- 

 modia of Mucilago spongiosa (Leyss.) Morg. are sometimes found in quantity to 

 be lifted into a cup ! For a student to come across such a mass of living matter, 

 protoplasm if you please, almost undifferentiated, is interesting enough, and an 

 experience never to be forgotten. The smaller venulose plasmodia which are 

 during the season everywhere discoverable in their favorite habitats, are not less 

 interesting; their peculiar appearance, form, color, are fascinating once the 

 significance of it all is recognized. Very often the transition may be observed 

 in situ from streaming plasmodium to perfected fruit. It is in many species 

 effected in a few hours. At any rate the plasmodium may be properly marked 

 and watched from day to day until life's round is finished. So much can be done 

 in the field, and, as it happens, these are observations that just now are in most 

 request. Of a comparatively small number of species is the plasmodium known. 

 Such information must be gained, if gained at all, by the careful exactness of a 

 multitude of observing students. Where continuous observation in the field is 

 for any reason impracticable, a part of a plasmodium may be brought to the 

 laboratory, where, in some cases, further steps in development may be watched. 

 That fructification does not in such cases uniformly ensue, is perhaps due to the 

 fact that the plasmodium, before fruiting, requires a certain maturity ; where 

 this is lacking the plasmodium in its changed conditions generally perishes. 

 Plasmodia brought indoors should be kept in the dark and kept moist, though 

 not too wet. As soon as signs of fruiting appear, the bell jar or other covering 

 should be removed and the substratum may be allowed to dry. 



Plasmodia in the field demonstrate their power of locomotion by the change 

 in form and position which may be noted from time to time. Such plasmodia 

 brought to the laboratory and placed on a moist glass in a moist chamber, as 

 under a bell jar, will often leave the original substratum and be found on the 

 glass. The latter may then be treated as a slide, placed on the stage of a 

 microscope where the streaming of the protoplasm may be observed surging to 

 and fro as long as proper conditions can be maintained. In this way we may 

 discover that the color is due to the granular or floating contents of the proto- 

 plasmic stream, perhaps beneath our glasses disappears entirely. We may 

 easily distinguish endosarc and ectosarc, and see that the translative movement 

 is always initiated by the latter. Parts of the plasmodia may be induced to 

 spread upon cover-glasses, to be subsequently fixed and stained. Alcohol as a 

 fixing medium, followed by safranin or other anilin, will suffice to bring out the 

 nuclei, and thus demonstrate the multicellular character of the one great amoeba. 



Another thing to be early noticed in the field is the effect of position and 

 environment generally, upon the form and character which the fruit ultimately 

 attains. For instance, the length or even presence of a stipe is sometimes due 

 largely to the fact that the sporangia are formed on the lower and not on the 

 upper side of the substratum, where gravitation contributes to lengthen out the 



