1895.] Botany. 931 
chiefly in the absence of a firm spore membrane; also by comparison 
with Bursulla, which, according to Sorokin, forms a true plasmodium 
and minute sporangia on horse dung; the spores do not become 
invested by a firm membrane, and escape from the swollen apex of the 
sporangium in the form of swarm-cells, without cilia, but capable of 
amceboid movement. Zopf extends the Mycetozoa so as to embrace the 
Monadinee of Cienkowski, but De Bary maintains that, whatever 
may be the points of agreement between the Monadinew and the 
Mycetozoa they are not such as to warrant their being classed with the 
latter division as defined by himself. Lankester accepts the groups as 
defined by de Bary, and places them in his grade Gymnomyzxa of Pro- 
tozoa ; he suggests their affinity with the Sporozoa. > The ingestion of 
bacteria by the swarm-cells appears to strengthen the view that the 
group is more nearly associated with the lower forms of animal than 
of vegetable life, and the name of Mycetozoa appears to mark its true 
position in the borderland between the two kingdoms. Fora more com- 
plete discussion of this subject I must refer to those who have paid 
special attention to the allied groups. 
In preparing this catalogue of the collection of Mycetozoa in the 
British Museum, the arrangement of orders and genera given by Ros- 
tafinski in his Monograph has been mainly followed, with such altera- 
tions as observations made during recent years have rendered necessary. 
DeBary made the group the subject of minute and thorough investiga- 
tion ; and Rostafinski, while studying under him at Strassburg, devised 
asystem of classification which is clear and comprehensive, and is now 
generally accepted. 
The division by Rostafinski of the main section Endosporee into two 
parts, distinguished by the color of the spores, has been objected to as 
being artificial and wanting in universal application, but the cases in . 
which species offer difficulty with regard to their position under this 
scheme are few, and on the whole the organisms range themselves under 
the separate heads in a remarkably natural manner, while for determin- 
ing the species the plan is simple and convenient.” 
Synopsis of the Orders and List of the Genera of the Mycetozoa. 
Subclass I.—EXOSPOREÆ. Spores developed outside the sporo- 
phores. 
Order I.—Ceratiomyxacez. Sporophores membranous, branched; 
spores white, borne singly on filiform stalks arising from the areolated 
sporophore. Gen. Ceratiomyzxa. 
