ORDER VIII. MYXOBACTERALES 



envelope, about 10 to 15 cysts in a mass. 

 Rods in the cj'sts about 3 microns in length. 



Source : Isolated from verj' wet wood and 

 bark in swamps in Maine and Belmont, 

 Mass. (Thaxter, loc. cit.). Also found on 

 old wood lying in moist ditches, on old pop- 

 lar bark which was kept in a moist dish and 

 on rabbit dung. 



Habitat: Found on decaying organic mat- 

 ter in soil and in the dung of various ani- 

 mals. Jahn (Beitrage zur bot. Protistologie. 

 I, Die Polyangiden. Geb. Borntraeger, 

 Leipzig, 1924) states that it is not common. 



Illustrations: Thaxter (op. cit., 17, 1892, 

 PI. 25, Figs. 34-36), Zukal (Ber. d. deutsch. 

 Bot. Ges., 15, 1897, 542, PL 27, Figs. 6-10) 

 and Jahn (Kryptogamenflora d. Mark Bran- 

 denburg, V, Pilze I, Lief 2, 1911, 199, Fig. 3; 

 also see op. cit., 1924, 77 and PL II, Fig. 13). 



2. Polyangium minus Krzemieniewski, 



1926. (Acta Soc. Bot. Poloniae, 4, 1926, 33.) 

 mi'nus. L. comp.adj. minor less, smaller. 

 Vegetative cells: Rods 0.4 to 0.6 by 3.0 to 



7.0 microns. 



Fruiting bodies: Cyst masses commonly 

 cover the substrate to an area of 0.5 sq. mm. 

 Cysts are spherical or ellipsoidal, small, 20 

 to 80 by 20 to 50 microns, light rose in color, 

 becoming brownish, embedded in a trans- 

 parent colorless slime. Cyst membrane light 

 colored, relatively thick, 0.5 to 1.0 micron, 

 transparent, revealing the contents. Rods 

 in cyst 0.8 to 1.0 by 1.3 to 2.0 microns. 



Source: Isolated from rabbit dung which 

 was sterilized and placed on soil (Poland). 

 Relativelj^ slow in appearance, only after 

 many days. 



Habitat: Found on decaying organic mat- 

 ter in soil and in the dung of various ani- 

 mals. Rather rare. 



Illustrations: Krzemieniewski (ibid., PL 

 IV, Fig. 47-48; PL V, Fig. 49). 



3. Polyangium luteum Krzemieniewski, 



1927. (Acta Soc. Bot. Poloniae, 5, 1927, 98.) 

 lu'te.um. L. adj. luteus saffron- or golden 



yellow. 



Vegetative cells: Not described. 



Fruiting bodies: Golden j-ellow, consist- 

 ing of a few cysts surrounded by a common, 

 bright yellow, very thick slime wall. The 



cysts have colorless, thin walls. Rods 0.7 

 to 0.8 by 3.8 to 5.8 microns. 



Source: Grown from soil on rabbit dung. 



Habitat: Found on decaying organic mat- 

 ter in soil and in the dung of various ani- 

 mals. 



Illustrations: Krzemieniewski (ibid., PL 

 V, Figs. 22-23). 



4. Polyangium morula Jahn, 1911. 

 (Kryptogamenflora der Mark Brandenburg, 

 V, Pilze I, 1911, 202.) 



mo'ru.la. Gr. noun mora the black mul- 

 berry; L. dim. noun moniZo a small mulberry. 



Vegetative cells: Not described. 



Fruiting bodies: Cysts bright yellow, 

 closely packed into a mulberr5'-shaped 

 sorus; cysts with thick membrane (3 mi- 

 crons), often made polj-gonal by pressure, 

 20 to 35 microns, bound together by slime. 

 The whole sorus is 100 to 200 microns broad. 

 Rods in cysts about 3 microns in length. 

 Jahn states he has not studied fresh cysts. 

 In the older cysts the rods are difficult to 

 observe. 



Source: Observed only once on rabbit 

 dung. 



Illustration: Jahn (Beitrage zur bot. 

 Protistologie. I, Die Polyangiden, Geb. 

 Borntraeger, Leipzig, 1924, PL 2, Fig. 21). 



5. Polyangium cellulosum Imsenecki 

 and Solntzeva, 1936*. (On aerobic cellulose- 

 decomposing bacteria. Akademiia Nauk, 

 Leningrad, Isvestiia, 1936, 1115; English 

 summary, 1168.) 



cel.lu.lo'sum. M.L. noun cellulosum cellu- 

 lose. 



Vegetative cells: Thick, bent rods with 

 rounded ends, 0.8 to 1 .2 by 3.5 to 8.5 microns. 



Fruiting body: Rods at center of the col- 

 ony are non-motile, forming large orange 

 aggregates, and are shorter than those at 

 the margin: 0.7 to 0.9 by 3.4 to 5.6 microns. 

 Later a concentration of cells occurs. The 

 rods come closer together to form rounded 

 or ellipsoidal aggregates from which cysts 

 become delimited. The cysts are orange in 

 color, 8 to 24 microns, average 20 to 25 mi- 

 crons in diameter. In addition to bacterial 

 cells, droplets of fat, 1.5 to 3.5 microns, are 



Translated from the original by E. V. Prostov, Iowa State College Library, Ames, Iowa. 



