CHAPTER XIII: SLIME FUNGI—MYXO- 
MYCETES 
(SzE Prate Facinc Pace 136) 
WHETHER the slime fungi are plants or animals is a question 
not yet decided. They are living organisms which have no 
chlorophyll, or leaf-green, and which in their vegetative state 
resemble certain groups of the Protozoa, or unicellular animals, 
which live in water. In their manner of reproduction they show 
resemblances to certain fungi, and the spore cases or sporangia 
of some resemble tiny puffballs in form and manner of ejecting 
their spores. 
In the growing stage they consist of a naked mass of yel- 
lowish or whitish protoplasm, which creeps about in the dark, in 
accumulations of dead parts of plants, or under the bark of 
rotting stumps or logs. When a spore germinates, the mem- 
brane about it bursts, and a bit of naked and slimy protoplasm 
escapes. This tiny mass creeps about, absorbing food from its 
surroundings, and increasing in size until it may perhaps cover 
an area of many inches. After a time spores begin to form, then 
either the whole mass is transformed into a single spore case or a 
number of spore cases are formed. The spore cases of Lycogala 
epidendron are pretty things, resembling pink coral beads. When 
fresh, a case is filled with a thin pink paste; but when mature, 
with fine brown dust-like spores. When the spore case bursts, 
these spores escape, and if they fall in favourable places the life 
cycle begins anew. 
Myx'-0-my-cé'-tés Pri-td-z6'-4 Ly-cdg'-4-14 Ep-i-dén’-drin 
144 
