PROTOZOA 9 
may be easily obtained by soaking some dried bean-stalks in 
water for twenty-four hours, and then keeping them in a moist 
chamber for ten days or so; at the end of this time plasmodia 
may be observed crawling over the stems, etc. 
The sulphur-coloured Fuligo (Aethalium) is a genus which is 
met with in considerable masses creeping over the tan in tan- 
yards ; others occur in rotten wood, decaying bean-stalks, and 
dung. The spore cysts may or may not be stalked, and the pro- 
toplasm enclosed within them does not all become spores, but 
the remnant forms a meshwork of fibres differing in details in 
the various genera. This network, termed a capillitiwm, 
serves to support the spores, and possibly helps in their escape 
when the surrounding wall gives way. The walls of the 
cysts may be strengthened by the deposition of calcium 
carbonate. The coating of the spores is of a cellulose nature: 
a substance usually associated with the vegetable kingdom, but 
not unknown among animals, especially amongst the Protozoa. 
At times the plasmodia contract and surround themselves by 
a cyst, and pass through a quiescent period. This condition is 
known as the sclerotiwm. 
Myxomycetes are capable of retaining their vitality for long 
periods of time in a dried-up condition; they resume their 
active life again when supplied with moisture. About 300 
species of Myxomycetes have been described, chiefly by 
botanists, who regard these organisms as being allied to the 
Fungi. 
CLass III. Lobosa. 
The individuals of this group are those Protozoa in whose 
life-history the amoeboid phase predominates. The pseudo- 
podia are lobose, thick, blunt processes of protoplasm, which 
are never filamentous and never anastomose. One or more 
contractile vacuoles are found, and it is stated that urates have 
recently been demonstrated in connection with these vacuoles 
in some Amoebae. The amoeboid individuals may conjugate 
from time to time, but do not form plasmodia. They some- 
times encyst, and the cyst is a resting one (hypnocyst) and 
not a reproductive one (sporocyst). The usual form of repro- 
duction is fission, which may pass into gemmation. The dis- 
