54 



submerged in water or at least where they are kept more or less 

 constantly moist. The reticulated plasmodia may be found pene- 

 trating and distributed throughout fairly large portions of the 

 wood. Wood containing the protoplasmic reticulum may be cut 

 or broken into pieces of almost any size, suitable for carrying 

 in a collecting case, without danger of serious or permanent 

 damage to the plasmodial material. 



Fig. 1. A Plasmodium in the process of emerging from a sclerotium and 

 spreading over the surface of an agar plate. 



Many living plasmodia, which have been collected in this 

 way, may be kept in the laboratory for weeks or even months 

 by simply placing the wood on. which they are growing in a 

 vessel where it can remain constantly moist. However, the 

 habit of some of the Myxomycetes of forming sclerotia or rest- 

 ing stages can be utilized advantageously in preserving viable 



