MORPHOLOGY 
regarded as plants or animals. Those who incline to the view that they 
are animals use the term Mycetozoa (fungus animals) for the group. It 
should not be surprising to find at the lower confines of the plant and 
animal kingdoms organisms which do not appear to belong to either. 
The slime molds are mostly terrestrial forms, being common in for- 
ests on humous soil, decaying wood, fallen leaves, etc., and one of the 
largest occurs on spent tan bark (" flowers of tan "). The body contains 
no chlorophyll, and this fact has induced many to regard slime molds 
as fungi. The absence of chlorophyll means inability to manufacture 
food, and hence a dependent habit, slime molds being for the most part 
saprophytes (see p. 61). 
Plant body. The characteristic body is called the plasmodium, 
which is a naked mass of protoplasm (the living substance) with a 
creeping motion, putting out and 
withdrawing regions of its body 
(ps eudo podia) like a gigantic amoeba 
(see p. 444). This slimy body is 
for a time very sensitive to light, in 
the case of the slime mold of tan, 
for example, shrinking away from it 
into the crevices of its substratum. 
Within the body there are found em- 
bedded many nuclei (protoplasmic 
organs), and streaming movements 
in the cytoplasm (the general proto- 
plasm) may be observed (fig. i). 
The most unplantlike behavior of 
the plasmodium is its habit of engulf- 
ing solid food instead of admitting 
it in solution, and within the body 
may be seen engulfed bacteria and 
other minute organisms. Under 
certain conditions, the whole plas- 
modium or parts of it become en- 
cysted, the surface becoming hardened 
and often crusty and inclosing a mass of resting protoplasm of waxlike 
consistency. These hardened masses are called sderotia, and are won- 
derfully resistant, being capable of renewing their activity after re- 
maining dry for years. 
FIG. i. A small portion of the plas- 
modium of a slime mold (Fuligd), highly 
magnified ; the cytoplasm is very vacuo- 
late, so that it appears as a network of 
strands of varying width, in which numer- 
ous nuclei may be observed. Adapted 
from LISTER. 
