THE SLIME-FUNGI 9 



dustlike spores are formed. These spores are ulti- 

 mately liberated, and, being very ligbt, are distributed 

 by even the slightest currents of air; reaching a suitable 

 substratum, they germinate into active swarm-spores, 

 which either swim in water, with the assistance of lash- 

 like processes, called " flagella," or creep over damp 

 surfaces of dead leaves, etc. These swarm-spores feed, 

 grow, and repeatedly divide; finally, they coalesce, to 

 form a plasmodium. Thus, the life-cycle is from plas- 



FiG. 2. — Badhamia tttbiculaeis, Plasmodium, dkawn fbom a Stained 

 Specimbn peepaeed by Me. A. Listbe. 



a, a. Advancing margin, x about 6. 



modia to spore-production. The spores develop into 

 swarm-spores, and the latter settle down into plasmodia. 

 In Fig. 2 we have a drawing of a small plasmodium of 

 the Myxomycete, Badhamia utricularis, which is often 

 found on decaying wood, and even on the rotten timbers 

 of old garden-seats. It should be sought in damp 

 weather. It occurs in deep-yellow, slimy, flat, irregu- 

 larly formed masses, feeding on species of fungi growing 

 on the rotten wood. As the drawing indicates, thick 

 veins of protoplasm traverse the mass, forming a species 

 of network within which the living substance is in very 



2 



