1 8 MYCOLOGY 



into a powder. The Plasmodium of a species of Chondriodcrma lives at 

 the edge of melting snow fields, or even on the snow itself. The organ- 

 ism of malaria frequently called Plasmodium malaria; is not a slime 

 mould, but rightly belongs to the group of HdmosporidicB, a division 

 of the Protozoa. 



The sHme moulds are cosmopolitan. Many of the same forms have 

 been found in North and South America, the West Indies, Europe, 

 Cape of Good Hope, AustraHa, New Zealand and Japan. The writer 

 has used a manual of the Myxomycetes of Buitenzorg, Java, in the 

 identification of species found near Philadelphia. About 214 species are 

 represented in the British Museum collection. 



Laboratory Exercise. — The wjiter has found in his experience as a 

 teacher that time may be profitably spent by a class in mycology in the 

 identification of the common slime moulds. The sporangia, aethalia 

 and plasmodiocarps of the different kinds can be kept separately in 

 different small pasteboard boxes and material out of these boxes can 

 be distributed to the members of the class. The dried material is first 

 treated with 70 per cent, alcohol to remove the air, and then the treated 

 material is mounted for permanent preservation in glycerine jelly. 

 The absorption of water by the glycerine jelly is prevented by a ring 

 of asphalt. The "Guide to the British Mycetozoa exhibited in the 

 Department of Botany, British Museum Natural History," ist 

 Edition, 1895, 2d Edition, 1905, 3d Edition, 1909, has been used in 

 classes at the University of Pennsylvania with much success. After 

 the generic name has been determined. Lister's "British Mycetozoa" 

 or MacBride's "North American Slime Moulds" can be used to find 

 the name of the species. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



CoNARD, H. S.: Spore Formation in Lycogala exigiium Morg. Iowa Acad. Sci., 



17: 83, 1910. 

 Cooke, M. C: The Myxomycetes of Great Britain Arranged According to the 



Method of Rostafinski, 96 pp., 24 pis., London, Williams & Norgate, 1877. 

 Cooke, M. C: The Myxomycetes of the United States Arranged According to the 



Method of Rostafinski. Annals Lyceum, Nat. Hist., New York, 11: 378-409, 



1877. 

 Cook, O. F.: Methods of Collecting and Preserving Myxomycetes. Botanical 



Gazette, 16: 263, 1891. 

 DE Bary, Anton: Comparative Morphology and Biology of the Fungi, Mycetozoa 



and Bacteria. Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1887, especially pp. 420-453. 



