NATURE NOTES. j11 
balsam, showed the columella and capillitium beautifully. 
On 20th October, at 4.30 p.m., I noticed a group of sporangia 
beginning to rise on the wood. They appeared as small, 
white, glistening elevations, studded over a space of less 
than one square inch. At 6.30 they had elongated con- 
siderably, and by 12 p.m. a dark stalk had formed bearing 
the sporangium, still white and of an elongate form. Next 
morning at 7.30 the sporangia had assumed a globose form, 
but were still of a creamy-white colour. By 9.15 am.a 
purplish-brown flush was spreading over the sporangia, and 
when looked at again in the afternoon they were mature. 
The mature sporangium of this species is dark brown in 
colour, and the sporangium wall is evanescent, They are 
variable in size and shape—typically round, some are 
cylindrical. 
In Arcyria incarnata sporangia are produced freely, but 
little time is given for study of the complete sporangium, as 
the sporangium wall soon goes, leaving only a small cup at 
the base, while the capillitium spreads out in a large, 
diffuse network, expanding to many times the original 
volume. In a moist atmosphere, however, they may be 
kept for a length of time, but whenever they are taken out 
rupture takes place. Gatherings of this species should be 
kept in the dark, as in the light they soon lose their 
beautiful pink colour. 
I tried several methods, eg., cultures made in moist 
chambers, or on filter-paper, in order to study the zoospores, 
but without success. Last March (1898) there appeared a 
valuable and most interesting paper in the Quarterly Journal 
of Microscopical Science on “The Aseptic Cultivation of 
Mycetozoa,” written by Dr C. O. Miller, in which is 
described a new method of cultivating these organisms. In 
making cultures for the study of Protozoa, Dr Miller 
obtained zoospores of Mycetozoa from the air and from hay. 
He got Physarum cinereum, Didymium difforme, and other 
species in this way. For the proper study of the different 
species obtained, aseptic cultures were made in dilute hay 
infusion with 2 per cent. of milk added. These were very 
successful, and the author made quite a number of in- 
teresting observations of the zoospores and plasmodia. 
