36 SUGGESTIONS ON THE COLLECTING AND STUDY
Other genera will also be found on dead leaves, but these are
sufficient for our present purpose and are the most common.
Let us now proceed to the first thoroughly rotten, damp old
stump : clearing away dead leaves and loose materials we may soon
discover a cluster of delicate rose pink, or even bright red bodies,
which at once are recognized as Myxomycetes. Instead of a sub-
globose, or cup-shaped head, in this case the head will be elongated,
almost like a minute sausage standing on end. We will call it cylindrical,
rounded at the ends, with a stem nearly the length of the head. Let
us call it Arcyria, for that is the genus to which these objects belong.
The coating, or peridium, soon splits and falls away, leaving only a
small cup at the bottom, but the form remains the same, for the whole
mass of capillitium, with or without spores, remains for a long time
erect. This capillitium forms a very splendid object for the micro-
scope, the densely interwoven network, with cross bands or bars, the
bright colour, and the intermingled spores, will make an impression,
even upon the uninitiated, and give good work for the camera lucida.
There are several species to be found, and all more or less
beautiful, and with different bandings or markings on the threads.
Denser clusters of longer, dark brown bodies, of a similar shape,
will also be found on rotten wood. The stems are shining and black,
like horsehair, the central columella is a continuation of the stem,
nearly to the top, and the capillitium is a dense black network, but
the surface is smooth, without transverse bands or markings. And
the name of the genus is Stemonitis.
Perhaps, after all, the majority of microscopists in search of inter-
esting objects, who have been attracted in this direction, have been
content with some species of Trichia. These again are mostly found
on rotting wood or rotten bark, and, as usual, gregarious. The pre-
vailing colour is tawny yellow, sometimes golden yellow, passing into
brown. The heads are mostly egg-shaped, with the thin end down-
wards, joined to a very short stem, or no appreciable stem at all.
The surface of the peridium is smooth and shining, and remains
closed, without splitting or falling away, for a long time. The con-
tents, consisting of capillitium and spores, mostly yellow, and often
very bright. There is no central columella, and the threads of the
capillitium are not combined into a net, but remain free, tortuous
threads, seldom branched and not fixed, but attenuated at each end.
These very interesting threads have a spiral twist throughout their
length; sometimes the spirals are close together, and sometimes more