THE MYXOMYCETES OF PICTOU COUNTY. MOORE. 171 



by Mr. Arthur Lister on. the plasmodium of Badhamia utricu- 

 laris are reported in the Annals of Botany, Vol. 2, No. 5. He 

 found that the plasmodium of this species could be raised from 

 a sluggish and scarcely moving condition to one of groat activity 

 by supplying it with Agaricus campestris, Boletus flavus or with 

 the prepared hymenial surface of Stereum liirsutum. When 

 Ayaricus fasciularis was supplied, the plasmodium for three 

 hours refused it altogether, but when at last invaded, in one 

 instance the section was rejected and never touched again and 

 in another the plasmodium which had partaken of this fungus 

 exhibited the most pronounced symptoms of disorder. Mr. 

 Lister also found that starch, after being treated with warm 

 water was readily absorbed and digested by the plasmodium of 

 this species, but that perfectly raw starch remained unaffected. 

 The process of digestion appears generally to take place in 

 the streaming granular interr r substance ; but in one instance 

 at least, a like power of digestion was exhibited by the hyaline 

 margin, in which the dissolution of fungus hyphse was observed 

 tu take place. 



Resting State. When subjected to a slow drying process, 

 young plasmodia may pass into a resting form, known as 

 macrocysts. The plasmodium breaks up irregularly, each part 

 rounds off and surrounds itself with a wall which becomes 

 thickened and laminated. When placed in water the contents 

 of these cysts swell up and issue forth as amoeboid bodies. 

 M'acrocysts of this kind occur in Periclicena and Fuligo. 



Another resting form sometimes occurs in fully developed 

 plasmodia. A plasmodium comes to rest and forms a number 

 of lumps of almost liorn-like consistency, frequently connected 

 by strands of similar material. These lumps and strands con- 

 sist wholly of compaiatively laige ceils filled with a granular, 

 generally colored plasma. These forms are designated sclerotia 

 and exhibit the wintering condition of plasmodia. When the 

 sclerotia are brought into contact with water, each cell swells 



PHOC. & TRANS. N. S. INST. Sci., VOL. XII- TRANS. 12. 



