MYXOMYCETES 337 
(meaning slime) and myces (meaning mold or fungus) (Fig. 288). 
This naked mass of protoplasm is called a plasmodium. It is a 
semi-liquid and is found flowing out of the cracks of rotten logs 
and stumps, forming white or colored doughy-like masses. They 
are often found creeping out of the cracks of old plank walks, out 
of decayed bark, or out of 
apple pumice around a cider 
mill. Some of the Myxomy- 
cetes are parasites, living in 
the tissues of higher plants 
and often causing much in- 
jury. 
The plasmodium is multi- 
nucleate and is able, by put- 
ting out and withdrawing regions of its body, to move about like 
a gigantic Amoeba. Sometimes the plasmodium breaks up into 
many smaller portions which are able, by means of cilia or flagella, 
to move about like the low forms of animals. The Myxomycetes 
have the characteristics of both 
plants and animals, and opin- 
ions differ as to whether they 
should be classed as plants or 
animals. 
Their method of obtaining food 
consists chiefly in digesting the 
substances found in other 
plants. Those forms which 
live on dead organisms are 
Fic. 289.—A, Myxomycete, able to utilize the carbohy- 
Stemonitis, in which the plasmodium drates remaining in decaying 
has been transformed into slender : . 
stalked sporangia (sp) which bear organic matter, while those 
numerous spores (s). attacking living plants prey 
upon the tissues of the plant 
attacked. Those forms living on dead organisms are called sapro- 
phytes, while those forms living on living organisms are called 
parasites. The living organism attacked is called the host. 
Reproduction in the Myxomycetes is asexual. The first indi- 
cation of reproduction in most of the saprophytic forms is the 
appearance of upward projections on the surface of the plas- 
modium. Into these projections, which are at first hollow 
Fic. 288. — Plasmodium of a Myxo- 
mycete growing on wood. X about 3}. 
