THE MYXOMVCETES OF PICTOU COUNTY. — MOORE. 173 



dims; in the fnrmer in their highly elastic capillitial nets and 

 ii: the latter in their free elastic elaters. 



The terminal twig in the direct line of development from 

 the primitive plasmodiocarp is, undoubtedly, represented by 

 Lyccgala epidendnnn in which we have a highly specialized 

 a'thalium, composed of sporangia destitute of capillitium. The 

 walls of the interwoven sporangia, however, persist to form a 

 pseudo-capillitium of tubules, the lumina of which represent 

 the interstices between the individual sporangia. 



Historical and Systematic. The appearance of the Systema 

 Mycologicum of Fries in 1S29 marks the first great advance in 

 th'C systematic study of the jMyxomycetes. Previous to this, 

 many species had bee^n recognized, and more or less accurately 

 df scribed, but they were distributed among the various groups 

 of the Fungi — Gasteromycetes, Hymenomycetes, Discomycetes 

 and Mucors. Fries was the first to grasp their essential unity 

 in structure and in development, and accordingly he collected 

 the hitherto scattered genera and species into a distinct group 

 under the name Myxogastres, characterised as " primitus mucil- 

 aginosi, fluxiles.'' That he fully appreciated the marked pecu- 

 liarities of the vegetati\^ phase of these organisms in comparison 

 with that of other fungi, is clearly shown in his discussion of 

 the group. " Vegetatio," he says, " maxime singularis a reli- 

 quorum fungorum prorsus diversa,'' and in consequence of this 

 knowledge he should, perhaps, have set off the group from the 

 fungi, or at least have given them an independent position in 

 that class. He, however, placed them as a sub-order of the 

 Gasteromycetes, misled by the striking analogies between 

 their mature fructifications, the sporangia, capillitium and 

 spores, and the corresiwnding structures in that group. The 

 limits of the genera (17) and species according to the fonn and 

 structure of the fruit bodies were demarked ' y him with such 

 systematic insight that in great part they still remain. 



