618 



THE SUBDIVISIONS OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



larger, the numerous representatives of which are unrelieved in their monotony. 

 This method, truly, is an unconventional one, but in view of the restrictions of 

 space, perhaps better suited to our purpose than any other. 



Phylum 1.— MYXOTHALLOPHYTA. 



Organisms destitute of chlorophyll, whose vegetative state consists of a mass of naked proto- 

 plasm (Plasmodium). Reproduction by spores, fi'om which arise swarm -spores or myx- 

 amoebie, which unite again into plasmodia. 



Alliance I. — Myxomycetes, Slime-Fungi. 



For the most part saprophytic upon dead organic and especially vegetable sub- 

 stances; they occur chiefly on accumulations of the dead parts of plants — leaves, 



Fig. 367.— Myxomycetes. 



1 A group of sporangia of Stemonitis fusca. 2 A single sporangium; x 6. s Dendritic mass of sporangia of Spumaria alba on 



a Grass leaf. ■» Sporangium of Dictydium cernuum; x 25. »A group of sporangia of the same, e and ? Sporangia of 



. Craterium minutum; ^ X 25. » Sporsmgia, ot Arcyria punicea. 9 A single sporangium; x 10. i» Part of tlie net-like 



capillitium of the same; xl60. " Fructification of Lycogala epidendrum on a piece of wood. 12 Leocarpns fragilis; a 



Plasmodium on the right; several sporangia on the left. 



tan, rotting wood, and the like; they are rarely parasitic. Their life-history is as 

 follows: — On the germination of the spores the membrane bursts, and a slimy, 

 nucleated mass of protoplasm escapes, which either swims in water by means of a 



