48 The Mycetozoa, and 



usually very fugacious, and soon falls off, leaving a tree- 

 like structure of delicate branches. The genus Comatricha 

 shows round or ovoid heads, not unlike the system of 

 branches of an oak (see Fig. 14). The genus Stemonitis 

 has taller tree-like growths, which often remind one forcibly 



FiGK 13. Capillitium of Stemonitis fusca. 



of a Lombardy poplar. Fig. 7 shows a group of sporangia. 

 Fig. 18 shows a portion of the capillitium when the spores 

 have been shaken out. 



It is curious thus to see these similar forms assumed by 

 the mighty trees and by their poor little and very distant 

 relatives the myxies ; and yet, perhaps, this similarity is 

 not a mere accident, but the same physiological necessity 



