90 THE MYXOMYCETES, 



has been given, except to tell Saville Kent that he " has gone out of 

 the way to meddle with a subject which he does not understand." It 

 is evident that a wider and deeper knowledge of the facts concerning 

 not only the Fungi, but the Protozoa, is needed, before the problem 

 can be completely settled. One writer has even suggested lately 

 " the abolition of the group, and the placing of their principal divisions 

 in the various orders of Fungi to which their fructification presents 

 the closest resemblance."* This method of treating them would be 

 similar to that which has been adopted so successfully by modern 

 cryptogamists with regard to the gi-oup of Mosses formerly named 

 Phasceae, though in that case leaf-structure formed the basis of the 

 distribution. 



DESCRIPIION OF A MYXOMYCETE. 



The following is a brief account of a fully-developed Myxomycete. 

 It consists mainly of a spore-case or sporangium, which assumes one or 

 other of two distinct forms : first, it may be definite in shape, spherical, 

 hemispherical, ovoid, lenticular or reniform, stalked or sessile ; or, 

 second, it may be without a very definite outline, forming merely an 

 extended cake-like or reticulated mass, which takes its shape for the 

 most part from the accidents of its position. The sporangia vary in 

 size, from a little rounded heap just visible to the naked eye, to a mass 

 two feet long and an inch or more thick. This sporangium may have 

 one or more walls, either of which may contain a deposit of lime — 

 usually, it is said, in the form of oxalate — either in thinly-scattered 

 crystals or granules, or .forming the greater portion of its substance. 

 The walls of the sporangium and the stem ai'e destitute of proper 

 cells : the}' are often composed of a delicate homogeneous membrane, 

 or only bear a few thickenings on the surface in certain forms peculiar 

 to the different species. The stem often springs from a small patch of 

 a similar homogeneous substance, called the hypothallus, by which it 

 is attached to the matrix. 



The contents of the sporangium most often consist of a vast number, 

 sometimes millions of millions, f of spores, amongst which there is 

 present, in addition, a structure called the capillitium ; in a few cases 

 the capillitium is apparently wanting. The capillitium is composed 

 of threads, sometimes simple, sometimes branched ; sometimes free, 

 sometimes combined ; in one species formed of delicate tubes with trans- 

 lucent walls, in another furnished with spiral markings or ridges or 

 spines projecting froin their outer surface ; sometimes containing air, 

 and at other times filled with lime. In many cases, also, the knots or 

 points of junction of the threads are enlarged, and these knots may, 

 or may not, contain lime. The mode of attachment of the capillitium 

 is also extremely varied. In Trichia the threads are perfectly free at 



* Van Tieghem, " Bull. See. Bot. France," xxvii., p. 322. 



t I have calculated, from measurements, the number of spores in one sporan- 

 gium of Comatricha ti/phina; there were at least one hundred millions. The 

 number in an ffthalium of Reticularia or Fuligo must be enoi'mously greater. 



