The Mycetozoa, and 



tube. It may be said to represent the aggregated plas- 

 modium which has stayed its onward course, gathered 

 itself together, covered itself with a coat, and then produced 

 spores. This form is shown at a, in Fig. 8. 



y. ^Ethalium is the name given to that form of fructi- 

 fication in which a number of separate spore cases exist ; 

 but where they are so densely packed together, so intricately 

 coiled, and so freely anastomosing that their individuality 

 seems to disappear. The 

 Fuligo septica, the myxie 

 to which we have 

 already often alluded as 

 living on tan, and which 

 is known as the flowers 

 of tan (the only instance, 

 we believe, in which any 

 one of these organisms 

 has the slightest claim to 

 an English name), is 

 an instance of this 

 form of fructification. Fig. 9 exhibits a section of the 

 mature asthalium of Fuligo. 



Though it is both possible and convenient thus to 

 classify the forms assumed by the fructification, it must 

 not be Supposed that the lines between them are hard and 

 fast ; on the contrary, there are abundant instances in 

 which the plasmodiocarp and sporangium forms merge 

 into one another ; frequently the two forms will co-exist 

 as the products of one and the same plasmodium. 



FlG. S.Fuligo septica. Section 

 of mature sethalium. Somewhat 

 enlarged. 



