BADHAMIA 153 



the possession of Badhamia. But many of its allies, such as 

 the common Fuligo septica, or " flowers of ian," found in old 

 tan-pits, feed on decaying vegetable matter only, and in this 

 respect rather resemble the Fungi in their mode of nutrition. 

 The whole group of the Mycetozoa is further held to resemble 

 the lower plants, because of the manner in which the sporangia 

 are formed, and because the spores themselves have coats of 

 cutin and sometimes of cellulose, two characteristically vegetable 

 products, though cellulose is not unknown in the animal 

 kingdom. But a discussion as to whether they are animal or 

 vegetable would be fruitless. Organic nature does not lend 

 itself to sharp distinctions and the Mycetozoa, of which our 

 Badhamia is taken as an example, afford one of the best in- 

 stances of the convergence of the two great types of organic 

 structure, plants and animals, so widely different in their 

 higher forms. 



