THE MYCETOZOA 139 



these animals may play a part in the conservation of some 

 species. 



The plasmodium. The first picture of the beginning of 

 a plasmodium was that of Cienkowsky reproduced in 

 Fig. 38, la ; the latest is that of Jahn, Fig. 40, E. Jahn's 

 picture shows that the spores of Mycetozoa are encapsuled 

 gametes, and that the plasmodium is at first a single zygote. 



De Bary describes the grown plasmodium as consisting 

 of a ground-substance with granules scattered through it 

 in greater or less proportion, according to the species. At 

 the surface the ground-substance may be quite clear, forming, 

 except over the young pseudopodia, a doubly-contoured 

 line of ectoplasm. 



Alcohol, glycerine, and zinc chloride solution cause the 

 inner protoplasm to shrink and remain attached at a few 

 points only to the cortical layer or hyaloplasm. 



The Granules. The larger of these consist of carbonate 

 of lime in the Calcarineae, the other granules being very 

 small. Where pigment is present it is in fluid form, and it 

 invests the lime granules. 



Colours. The plasmodia in many species are white, 

 but others are yellow, pink, purple, or green, and owe their 

 colour to a fluid pigment scattered in small drops through 

 the protoplasm. The whole plasmodium of Lycogala epiden- 

 drum is rose-red. The spore-capsules are coloured in most 

 species, and in Didymium difforme colour is recognisable in 

 the hyaloplasm, out of which the spore-capsule is secreted. 



