54 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Feb., 



Apple-worms entering from any point may carry in 

 tlie spores on his body. When the entrance is made by 

 way of the pip, mould almost invariably occurs. 



Apples having broken-down and enlarged blossom 

 ends containing spores but without an opening to the 

 seed cavity showed no mould. 



Any opening through which spores may gain the seed 

 cavity may give rise to mould. 



More mouldy cores result from the entrance of worms 

 than from any other cause. 



Some Observations on the Behaviour of a Mixomycete. 



By THOS. CRAIG, 



STATEN ISLAND, N. Y. 



In Bennett & Murray's book on Cryptogamic Botany 

 mention is made of this form of life as the sixth sub-di- 

 vision. It is placed between the fungi and the proto- 

 phyta ; but at the end of their description they say: "We 

 are justified in placing these organisms outside the 

 limits of the vegetable kingdom." 



Dallinger, in his edition of Carpenter on the Micros- 

 cope, places them in the animal kingdom, in close aflBni- 

 ty with the rhizopods. Saville Kent, after prolonged 

 investigation placed them in the animal kingdom. All 

 these writers follow De Bary, who in 1859 first pub- 

 lished the results of his researches and his conclusions 

 th^t they were more allied to animals than plants. De 

 Bary's conclusions were fully confirmed by Saville 

 Kent, who traces the development as follows : Suppose 

 the existence of a sporangium ; this bursts and liberates 

 the spores which in the presence of water give birth to 

 a globular protoplasmic body, which becomes after a 

 time a flagellate infusosian, capable of ingesting solid 

 food. It then loses its flagellsB and becomes an Amceba. 

 Two of these conjugate and attract a number of other 



