J32 PROTISTS AND DISEASE 



even died, from the effects of having eaten the masses of 

 spores adhering to grass &c." 



Mycetozoa are counted among the lowest forms of life 

 and yet they exhibit a wonderful range of form, and a 

 series of physiological processes of the highest interest. 



They make a small group, about 180 British species 

 being known, hence they offer a compact example for 

 classification. 



To have written a fitting account of them would have 

 made this the longest chapter of the book. But, seeing 

 that the " British Museum Guide to the Mycetozoa " can be 

 bought for one shilling, and that it is a giiide to both the 

 biology and the systematic arrangement, great pruning is 

 possible. No guide, however, can take the place of practical 

 personal study. 



In their active states mycetozoa are aquatic and semi- 

 aquatic in habit. A long spell of wet weather favours 

 them. 



Stages in the life-cycle. To-day a mycetozoon may be 

 a plasmodium varying in size from a mere speck of soft 

 protoplasm in some cases to an area of a square foot or 

 more in Fuligo septica, the ' flowers of tan ' ; to-morrow, 

 perhaps, it is one or many brittle sporanges full of spores ; 

 and, a day or two later, with rain, the spores become shoals 

 of flagellate zoospores ready to recommence the cycle. 



In size and colouring, and in the sculpturing of their 

 outer coat the spores resemble those of many fungi. If kept 



