618 



THE SUBDIVISIONS OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



larger, the numerous representatives of which are unrelieved in their monotony. 

 This method, truly, is an unconventional one, but in view of the restrictions of 

 space, perhaps better suited to our purpose than any other. 



Phylum 1.— MYXOTHALLOPHTTA. 



Organisms destitute of chlorophyll, whose vegetative state consists of a mass of naked proto- 

 plasm (Plasmodium). Eeproduction by spores, from -which arise swarm -spores or myx- 

 amoebje, which unite again into plasmodia. 



Alliance I. — Myxomycetes, Slime-Fungi. 



For the most part saprophytic upon dead organic and especially vegetable sub- 

 stances; they occur chiefly on accumulations of the dead parts of plants — leaves, 



Fig. 367. — Myxomycetes. 



1 A group of sporangia of Stemonitis fusca. 2 A single sporangium; x 6. ' Dendritic mass of sporangia of Spumarki alba, on 

 a Grass leaf. * Sporangium of Dictydium cernuum; x 25. ^ A group of sporangia of the same. ^ and ^ Sporangia of 

 Craterium minutum; 6 x 25. 8 Sporangia of Arcyria punicea. 8 A single sporangium; x 10. n> Part of the net-like 

 capillitium of the same; xl60. n Fructification of Lycogala epidendrum on a piece of wood. 12 Jjcocarpus fragilis; a 

 Plasmodium on the right; several sporangia on the left. 



tan, rotting wood, and the like; they are rarely parasitic. Their life-history is as 

 follows: — On the germination of the spores the membrane bursts, and a slimy, 

 nucleated mass of protoplasm escapes, which either swims in water by means of a 



