102 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS 



ous nuclei. It creeps about by an amoeboid motion for a time 

 but then comes to rest. The central part of the mass becomes 

 transformed into spores while the superficial parts form a 

 peridium or spore case which opens when the spores are ripe 

 and permits them to scatter as a dry brown powder. When 

 the spore germinates an active swarmspore with a flagellum 

 emerges. This greatly resembles a flagellate. After a time 

 the flagellum is lost and the organism assumes an amoeboid 

 (Myxamceba) condition. By the fusion of a number of these 

 myxamcebae the plasmodium is formed but in this fusion the 

 nuclei are not concerned. There is nothing resembling a 

 sexual method of reproduction. The vast number of spores 

 produced results from the division of the nuclei of the plas- 

 modium. A few slime-molds are parasitic in plants. There 

 is no chlorophyll and the reason for placing these organisms 

 under the plants rests on the very unanimal-like condition of 

 the organism in the " fruiting" stage. 



226. Class 2. Schizophyta. The organisms belonging to 

 this class are very simple in structure. There is no well-defined 

 nucleus and the cells are usually very small. There is no 

 sexual reproduction and multiplication takes place by fission. 

 The cells are either free or adhere in chains, plates or masses 

 held together by the gelatinous cell wall. 



227. Order i. Bacteria. The bacteria are the smallest organisms. 

 Many forms are so minute that even with the highest power of the micro- 

 scope they appear as little more than a point. There is a cell membrane 

 but no nucleus. Certain granules scattered in the cytoplasm stain like 

 chromatin and are therefore supposed to represent the nucleus. The 

 bacteria contain no cholorophyll, consequently most are saprophytic or 

 parasitic. But some forms are holophytic. Some forms have one or 

 more cilia and are motile, others are motionless and may be embedded in 

 a jelly formed by the swelling of the cell membrane. There is compara- 

 tively little variety in form because of the simplicity of structure. Never- 

 theless there are many species and these can be distinguished by their 

 physiological characters. The half dozen type forms which commonly 



