10 



PLANT-LIFE 



active movement. Microscopic examination reveals the 

 fact that the plasmodium, as in all Myxomycetes, con- 

 tains a great number of nuclei 

 (p. 6), which are shown in 

 Fig. 3. These nuclei increase 

 by fission, and regulate the 

 growth of the plasmodium. 

 No part of the mass is in the 

 slightest degree cellular. If we 

 will, we may see the organism 

 feed. We place a portion of 

 the fungus which the Myxo- 

 FIG. 3. BADHAMIA UTRICF- mycete relishes in front of the 

 LARIS ; PORTION OF PLAS- creeping margin of the plas- 



MODIUM, X 1200, SHOWING A . T 



SPHERICAL NUCLEI. modium, which soon flows over 



the food, engulfs it, and digests 



it in food vacuoles, after the manner of an Amoeba; 

 indigestible portions the "bones," as it were are 

 disgorged. The active plasmodium 

 creeps in the direction of moisture, 

 and avoids strong light; but when it 

 is ready for spore-formation, it creeps 

 away from a damp substratum to the 

 driest location it can find, and also 



COUrts Strong light. In a period of FlG< 4. - COMATRICHA 



drought, the plasmodium, probably OBTUSATA. 



for self-preservation, may cease its a > Group of sporangia, 



activity, divide into a number of 



parts, each part containing a number 



of nuclei, and forming a cell- wall of hardened protoplasm. 



This process is called " encystment," each cell being a 



cyst, and the mass of cells is named a " sclerotium " 



