THE SLIME-FUNGI 9 



dustlike spores are formed. These spores are ulti- 

 mately liberated, and, being very light, are distributed 

 by even the slightest currents of air; reaching a suitable 

 substratum, they germinate into active swarm-spores, 

 which either swim in water, with the assistance of lash- 

 like processes, called " flagella," or creep over damp 

 surfaces of dead leaves, etc. These swarm-spores feed, 

 grow, and repeatedly divide; finally, they coalesce, to 

 form a plasmodium. Thus, the life-cycle is from plas- 

 a 



FIG. 2. BADHAMIA UTRICULARIS, PLASMODIUM, DRAWN FROM A STAINED 

 SPECIMEN PREPARED BY MR. A. LISTER. 



a, a, Advancing margin, x about 5. 



modia to spore-production. The spores develop into 

 swarm-spores, and the latter settle down into plasmodia. 

 In Fig. 2 we have a drawing of a small plasmodium of 

 the Myxomycete, Badkamia utricularis, which is often 

 found on decaying wood, and even on the rotten timbers 

 of old garden-seats. It should be sought in damp 

 weather. It occurs in deep-yellow, slimy, flat, irregu- 

 larly formed masses, feeding on species of fungi growing 

 on the rotten wood. As the drawing indicates, thick 

 veins of protoplasm traverse the mass, forming a species 

 of network within which the living substance is in very 



2 



