10 



PLANT-LIFE 



Fig. 3. — 



I.ARIS ; 

 MODIUM 



^'6f*\ 



Badhamia UTRICU- 



PORTTON OF PLAS- 



X 1200, SHOWING 



Spherical Nuclei. 



active movement. Microscopic examination reveals the 



fact that the plasmodium, as in all Myxomycetes, con- 

 tains a great number of nuclei 

 (p. 6), which are shown in 

 Fig. 3. These nuclei increase 

 by fission, and regulate the 

 growth of the plasmodium. 

 No part of the mass is in the 

 slightest degree cellular. If we 

 will, we may see the organism 

 feed. We place a portion of 

 the fungus which the Myxo- 

 mycete relishes in front of the 

 creeping margin of the plas- 

 modium, which soon flows over 

 the food, engulfs it, and digests 



it in food vacuoles, after the manner of an Amoeba; 



indigestible portions — the " bones," as it were — are 



disgorged. The active plasmodium 



creeps in the direction of moisture, 



and avoids strong light; but when it 



is ready for spore-formation, it creeps 



away from a damp substratum to the 



driest location it can find, and also 



courts strong light. In a period of FlG 



drought, the plasmodium, probably 



for self-preservation, may cease its «> Group of sporangia, 



activity, divide into a number of 



parts, each part containing a number 



of nuclei, and forming a cell- wall of hardened protoplasm. 



This process is called " encystment," each cell being a 



cyst, and the mass of cells is named a " sclerotium " 



4. — COMATRICHA 

 OBTUSATA. 



natural size; b, empty 

 sporangium, x 16. 



