PROTOPHYTA. 107 
some spécies it is no larger than a pin-head, while in others 
it is as large as a man’s hand. This mass of protoplasm is 
often yellow or orange-red in color, and is never green. It 
possesses to an extraordinary degree the power of moving 
itself from place to place. Slime-moulds obtain their food 
by absorbing solutions of decaying matter, and are even 
Fig. 45.—Early stages of a Slime-mould (Fuligo varians). a, a spore; b. c, the 
same, bursting the cell-wall; d to J, various stages; m, young Slime-mould. 
said to engulf solid substances in the same manner as the 
Ameba among animals. 
220. When they have become full-grown they lose a 
good deal of their moisture, and the protoplasm then sepa- 
rates itself into a great number of minute rounded balls, 
each of which forms a cell-wall around itself. These little 
balls (spores) are thus nothing but bits of protoplasm secure- 
ly covered. They may now be blown hither and thither 
without harm, and when at last they fall into a moist warm 
place they imbibe water. burst their coats, and are free 
