132 A. E. HILTON ON 



By next morning the plasm, which had continued issuing from 

 the wood, was in much greater volume, and in two cushion-like 

 masses ; a larger mass, 4:'5 x 3'5 inches, on the highest part of the 

 log, and a smaller mass, about one inch in diameter, lower down, 

 and about eleven inches distant, but probably part of the same 

 Plasmodium. The average depth of the larger cushion was about 

 half an inch. The colour was still light yellow, but by noon this 

 had changed to a yellowish white with light-brown patches 

 and smaller blotches of a reddish tint where the plasm had been 

 disturbed by raindrops or other interferences. When matured 

 and dry the prevailing tone was whitish brown and cracks in 

 the surface revealed dark masses of spores within. The aethalia 

 were left in position, but gradually disappeared ; and, so far, 

 there has been no repetition. 



Two months later, in October 1918, a patch of Trichia, probably 

 T. scahra, appeared ; but I did not detect it in time to follow the 

 development, neither could I identify it with certainty, the specific 

 characters being indistinct. The small sporangia, sessile and 

 crowded, were of a slightly brownish-orange colour. 



In the spring of last year, a quantity of spores of Reticularia 

 lycoperdon were sown on the log, but no results are yet visible. 

 Other spores from the same source have since germinated freely 

 in water ; so that this negative experience is difficult to account 

 for, especially as Reticularia and Fuligo are very similar in their 

 general habit. 



There are so few Mycetozoa in the neighbourhood that the 

 subsequent occurrence of seven species on this one log is remark- 

 able ; but there is no mystery about it. For some time past I 

 have scattered upon it spores for which I had no other use; 

 and as I have sown, so, in a measure, have I reaped. All the 

 Mycetozoa mentioned in the remaining paragraphs were species 

 of which I had sown spores, so that no further explanation is 

 necessary. 



Towards the end of May last, this series of notable incidents 

 began with the appearance on the log of Lycogala epidendrum, 

 followed a month later by two more groups of the same kind, 

 about three feet apart. The aethalia of this species are spherical, 

 from 1/8 to 3/8 of an inch in diameter. When first seen on 

 the log, they were tiny globules of plasm of a light orange 

 colour, which in a few hours became twice the size, and of a 



