3IO INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF FUNGI 



walls of the sporaugiiuii Ly the radiating threads uf the 

 capillitium. It will be observed how closely these details 

 accord with those of the Lyco'perdaceae amongst puS-balls, so 

 that we would seem to be describing very microscopical puff- 

 balls. To a certain extent this is correct, but with the ex- 

 ception that the early condition is slimy, there is often when 

 mature a thin film of dried mucilage derived from the envelope, 

 and the capillitium is sometimes very highly developed. We 

 must, however, guard against the inference that there is any 

 true affinity between Myxomycetes and Gastromycetes, as old 

 authors believed. They are mostly developed upon dead leaves, 

 or very rotten wood, in damp places ; and though probably 

 most common in temperate regions, a few species extend into 

 the tropics. 



The total number of recorded species, included in the most 

 recent work on the subject, is 425 ; but no extended analysis 

 of their geographical distribution has been attempted, as it is 

 not clear that species recorded from distant stations twenty 

 or thirty years ago were determined with sufficient accuracy. 



It is unnecessary to allude at any length to the classifica- 

 tion adopted for the arrangement of this group. Previous to 

 the Monograph by Eostafinski ^ all the species were arranged 

 according to external characters, determined by the aid of a 

 pocket lens. Although it must be admitted that Fries 

 exhibited a remarkable insight into the relations and affinities 

 of the various groups of Fungi, yet his method was insufficient 

 for the minute species, and the Myxogasters, amongst others, 

 received only inadequate treatment at his hands, so that a 

 revision, with the aid of the microscope, became an absolute 

 necessity. De Bary evidently intended to do this, but never 

 accomplished it, although subsequently one of his pupils, who 

 had the benefit of becoming acquainted with his views, pro- 

 duced, in Polish, the Monograph above alluded to. Ptostafinski 

 accepted, in name, the Mycetozoa of De Bary, but with a more 

 restricted application, and his classification proceeded on a 

 botanical basis, since it was the reproductive phase, or 

 completed condition, which he recognised as the individual. 



■ Sluzowce, a Monograj^h of the Ilycdozoa, by Dr. Joseph Eostafinski (in 

 Polish), 1875. 



