THE MYCETOZOA 153 



the convoluted early sporangium and the capillitium tubes 

 perforating the inner wall of the fully formed sporangium 

 (from de Bary) are shown in 15. A cursory view of the 

 illustration as a whole may leave the impression of a number 

 of apparently unrelated structures, but if what has been 

 stated in this chapter is kept in mind, the diversity is not 

 inexplicable. Details given in Fig. 41 show that before 

 spores are formed the protoplasm of Mycetozoa separates 

 into two distinct substances. The first, to use in a particular 

 sense a term employed by Lionel Beale, we may call Bio- 

 plasm ; the other part destined to form the supporting 

 structures may be called Skeletoplasm. The bioplasm is 

 used for the formation of the spore contents, and, with one 

 queried point, it is nucleated throughout. The skeletoplasm 

 from the beginning of sporangium-formation is, I think, in 

 the chromidial condition ; from it the capillitium as well as 

 other parts of the skeleton are formed. 



It is easy to understand structural diversity if a Myce- 

 tozoon such as Comatricha nigra, 10, is studied. The series 

 of sporangia were drawn from nature. At first a sticky 

 sessile white bead, the sporangium soon becomes elevated 

 on a brown stalk, which can be seen to be prolonged as the 

 columella, owing to the transparency of the substance of the 

 young sporangium. The latter next becomes opaque and 

 of a glistening black ; a state which lasts but a short time : 

 the sporangium wall is evanescent and leaves a dull dark 

 brown surface when it disappears. A portion of this surface 



