2 A Monograph of the My. roga litres. 



the Friesian arrangement of fungi, the Myxogastres constitute 

 one of the two sub-orders of the Gastromi/cetcs, a position that 

 was perfectly justifiable when we remember that at the period 

 in question, external resemblances were accepted as proofs of 

 affinity; and considering the advances made in almost every 

 other group of minute organisms due to microscopic research, 

 it is somewhat remarkable to find that until the year 1864 the 

 classification of the Myxogastres was based almost entirely on 

 naked eye, or at most, pocket-lens characters. At the date last 

 named, the appearance of Professor De Bary's splendid work on 

 the present gi-onp ^ completely revolutionized all the pre-exist- 

 ing ideas as to structure and affinity, and has served as the basis 

 upon which all subsequent writers have endeavoured to demon- 

 strate kinship amongst the various sections comprising the 

 group. 



Ajfinitics. 



Respecting the nature and affinities of the Myxogastres, we 

 find the following in Professor De Bary's last work on the 

 subject — " I have, since the year ] 858, placed the Myxomycetes 

 under the name of Mycetozoa outside the limits of the vegetable 

 kingdom, and I still consider this to be their true position." - 

 This statement has been generally interpreted, and probably 

 correctly, as signifying that De Bary looked upon his Mycetozoa 

 as animals ; but it would perhaps have been wiser to have stated 

 this belief point-blank, and to have chosen some other word 

 than Mycetozoa to designate the group, thereby dispelling any 

 lingering of doubt as to his meaning. The difficulty is not 

 lessened by De Bary's introductory paragraph on the Mycetozoa, 

 which is as follows — " Tlie name Mycetozoa is here applied to 

 a group of fuugus-Hke organisms amounting at the present time 

 to nearly three hundred species, the larger number of which 

 are contained in the division Myxomycetes or Slime-Fungi (the 

 Myxogastres of Fries), together with the smaller one distin- 

 guished by Van Tieghem under the name of Acrasieae. 



' Die Mycdozoen (Sclileinipilze), (1864). 



■^ FiUKji MijcetoMu and Bacteria; Engl. eJ., p. 444. 



