53 



Here then we have the essential features of the Myxomycetes. Small 

 rounded bodies, at first gelatinous, then acquiring a peridium or coating, which 

 often contains lime, and is usually coloured more or less brightly, sometimes with 

 and sometimes without a stem, containing often a projecting boss or column in 

 the centre of the interior, called a columella, from which radiate the threads of 

 the capillitium, which threads are of the nature of sporophores or spore bearers, 

 and it may be added that these spores are usually globose. Bearing these gen- 

 eral ideas in mind, we may endeavour to comprehend the classification which has 

 been recently proposed. 



The outlines of the new method were announced by Rostafinski, in his 

 inaugural dissertation, and were published in the Continental journals. A year 

 or two afterwards a monograph was written, and this was published in a quarto 

 volume in the Polish lang^uage. This work was very much like the traditional 

 Welshman's pony, it was difficult to get, and not worth much when caught, on 

 account of the language in which it was written. The next step was the author's 

 visit to Western Europe, to Berlin, Paris, and London, and during this tour he 

 enlarged his acquaintance especially with exotic forms, in the unique herbarium 

 of the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, and then returned to Lemberg to write a supple- 

 ment, and again modify his classification. 



Subsequent to his visit to this country we became acquainted with the mono- 

 graph, and through the kindness and courtesy of the Rev. M. J. Berkeley were 

 favoured for some months with the loan of his copy of the monograph. It became 

 fruitless to attempt to find a botanist with a knowledge of Polish, and hence from 

 sheer necessity we at once set to the task of acquiring enough of the language to 

 comprehend the system and translate the essentials of the monograph. As the 

 result of this effort we are enabled to detail the principal features of the classifi- 

 cation which Rostafinski has propounded. 



Leaving out of the question the two divisions of exogenoe and enJogenoj, 

 which Rostafinski has now virtually abandoned, we find that the first step in the 

 classification has relation to the colour of the spores. The larger portion of the 

 Myxogasters have spores of a purplish brown colour, or as our author terms it 

 violaceous, the residue with spores of other colours, often bright coloured. Some- 

 times there will be difificulty in determining to which group certain species belong, 

 since some spores in Phi/sarum ov Didymiura perhaps will seem to possess .very 

 Uttle violet, and some of the species of Lamproderma will have spores which ap- 

 pear to resemble them very closely. In the majority of instances no diflSculty 

 will arise, collateral features will always come to our aid. 



The next important feature in the classification is the capillitium. In some 

 few instances no capillitium is developed, so that in both sections there will be 

 two sub-divisions, in one of which a capillitium is always present, and in the 

 other it is absent. In this manner the whole of the Myxogasters are distributed 

 into four groups. In the violet spored group the section without capillitium has 

 one order, and the other with a capillitium has two orders, whilst in the coloured 



