(33) 



there is at least a superficial resemblance to the fungi, which 

 are undoubted plants. By means of the second microscope 

 the spore-bearing stage of a slime-mould may be seen. The 

 stalks and the netted framework of the spore-case walls 

 remain, but the spores have mostly fallen. A few of the 

 spores, however, appearing like minute dark dots, can be 

 detected, adhering to the network. Under the lenses of the 

 third microscope are representatives of the diatoms — one- 

 celled organisms, some of which have the power of animal- 

 like locomotion. The living substance of each cell is enclosed 

 and protected by a hard transparent glassy wall consisting 

 of two halves, one of which fits into the other like a band- 

 box into its cover. Following this are shown " sea mosses," 

 or "seaweeds," as they are commonly known, and closely 

 related minute plants which inhabit fresh water and belong 

 to groups often referred to in popular speech as "pond- 

 scums" or "ooze." In the natural unmagnified condition, 

 many plants of this sort seem quite the reverse of attractive, 

 but when placed under a sufficiently powerful microscope 

 many of them reveal a rare beauty. The "sea mosses," or 

 "seaweeds," gradually lose much of their natural beauty of 

 coloration on prolonged exposure to the light, but the pencil- 

 ing elegance and symmetry of form and structure persist. 



Following the plants of the seaweed type are several repre- 

 sentatives of the smaller fungi. The specimens exhibited 

 are chiefly from among those which grow upon decaying 

 organic refuse. One interesting parasite exhibited is a 

 fungus parasitic upon another fungus, which, in turn, is a 

 parasite on the leaves of the common lilac. Another fungus 

 shown lives chiefly within the cells of the underground parts 

 of one of the orchids, yet it can scarcely be called a parasite, 

 inasmuch as its presence in the tissues of the orchid is bene- 

 ficial to the orchid as well as to itself. Of the fungi which 

 live upon deceaying refuse matter, Ascobolus is one of the 

 more interesting among those selected for exhibition. In 

 this, the spores, or propagating cells, are borne in groups of 

 eight within transparent ellipsoidal sacs, and at maturity these 



