The Myxomyc'etes of Pictou County. — l>y Cearexc;: L. 

 Moore. M. A., Supervisor of Public Schools in Sydney, 

 Xova Scotia. 



(Head 13lh April. 190S ) 



The ])resenr ])aper ciulKxlies the resnlts of studies of our 

 Xova Scotia forms of ^lyxoiuycetes carried on duriu"' the .-uui- 

 iiiers of 1905 and 1900. It is here presented as a contribution 

 to our knowledge of the tlora of the Province and of the distri- 

 bution of these organisms which, though generally small and 

 inconspicuous. ])resent in their life histories features of great 

 interest to the l)iologist. The grou)) is one which has been 

 almost totally ignored l)y students of our fauna and flora, the 

 only I'cferenco t(» h-e found to it in any of our local scientific 

 literature beiiig in a ])apcr l)v the late Dr. Somers on Xova 

 Scot'a fungi, ])ublished in the transactions of the Xova Scotia 

 rnstitute of Scienco. T)r. Somers there lists two of our connnon 

 forms, x'vA.: Lijr<)<)(da cpidciidnon Fr. 'And AetJialium scpficiun 

 Fr. [Fuliffo ovdta (Schseif) ^lacbr.]. These two species are 

 also enumerated l)y Dr. A. II. ^lacKay in his provisional list 

 of the Xova Scotia fmigi. ])ublished in the transactions of the 

 same society (Vol. XI, Part I, pp. 122-ll;r). 



Ill the following gCMiei-al discTission of the Myxomycetes, I 

 am necessarily indebted for many facts to the Avritings of 

 various students of the group, a list of whose works which I 

 have freely consulted will be found at nlie conclusion of this 

 paper. 



Life History. The life history of ty])i('al ^Myxomycetes 

 may be briefly sketched as follows: lender suitable conditions 

 of temperature and moisture the spores germinate, the walls 

 cracking ojien and the contents escaping in the form of small 

 protoplasmic globules. These soon exhibit amcpboid movements, 



(165) 



