CHAPTER XIV 
MYXOMYCETES AND SCHIZOPHYTES 
MYXOMYCETES 
With the exception of a few forms like Fuligo (often found on 
oak stumps and on oak bark in tanyards), the myxomycetes are 
small, and are usually overlooked 
by collectors (Fig. 30). A careful 
examination of rotting logs in 
moist woods will usually reveal 
an abundance of these delicate 
and beautiful organisms. Various 
species may be found in spring, 
summer, and autumn. The plas- 
modia are most abundant just 
after a warm shower. A couple of 
days of dry weather will then 
bring sporangia in abundance. The 
specimens should be pinned to the 
bottom of the box for safe carrying. 
An excellent collecting-box can be 
made from an ordinary paper shoe- 
box. On the bottom of the box 
place a thin piece of soft pine, or a 
piece of the corrugated paper so 
commonly used in packing; or, 
better still, a sheet of cork. At each 
end nail in a piece of pine half an 
inch thick and an inch high. Upon 
these end pieces place a thin piece 
of pine, thus making a second bot¬ 
tom, which, of course, should not be 
fastened. A second pair of ends 
with a third pine bottom nailed to them may rest upon the second 
bottom. The three bottoms will give a considerable surface upon 
164 
gium with some of the rotten wood. The 
dots represent fairly well the size and distribu¬ 
tion of the nuclei at this stage. X70. C, D, 
and E, successive stages, much later than B, 
showing condensation of the wall, origin of 
elaters (D), and mature sporangium (E). 
Preparation stained in safranin, gentian-violet, 
orange. X320. 
