MYXOMVCETES. 8i 



Plasmodium, which is accomplished as follows. Several of 

 the cells come into contact and coalesce ; this small mass 

 possesses the power of attracting to itself other free cells, 



Fig. 15. — (x 300). A, part of the naked protoplasm of Didymium 

 leucopus, a Myxogaster, in the motile condition, during the vegetative 

 state : the strands of protoplasm are continually changing their form, 

 and the whole mass also moves. B, a closed sporangium of another 

 species of Myxogaster, Arcyria incarnata. C, the same after rupture 

 of wall of sporangium, p ; cp, the expanded capillitium (x 20). From 

 Fraua ) 



which also blend to form a large mass or plasmodium that 

 in some species extends for several inches. The plasmodium 

 is usually if not always enclosed in a thin, yielding pellicle, 



G 



