24 PRACTICAL HINTS ON THE STUDY OF THE MYCETOZOA.
The leaves under these old trees have been rich in a variety of
species which have appeared during the wet weather that
prevailed through the months of September and October.
Although the time at our disposal was limited, 13 species were
collected, viz. : Badhamia rubiginosa, Physarum diderma, P.
vernum, Craterium pedunculatum, Leocarpus vernicosus, Chondrioderma
radiatum, Didymium effusum, D. nigripes, D. clavus, Comatricha
persoonii, C. rubens, Lamproderma irideum and Arcyria albida.
Some of the specimens deserve notice as of considerable
interest. Badhamia rubiginosa was found in abundance under one
of the hollies, and this is the first time that it has been
recorded in the Forest district. Comatricha rubens, an elegant
species only lately added to the list of Mycetozoa, was also
discovered. Physarum diderma, may often be overlooked from
its similarity to the more frequent P. bivalve. Chondrioderma
radiatum, which more often inhabits fir woods, was gathered on
the dead leaves. Physarum vernum was collected and named by
Sommerfelt in 1827, but has only recently been recognized as a
British species; a full description will, I hope, shortly appear in
the Journal of Botany. Sommerfelt's original gathering is in the
Christiana Museum, Norway.
In the evening the spoils of the ramble, consisting of Fungi
and Mycetozoa, were displayed on tables at the Royal Forest
Hotel, Chingford, and at the same time the "streaming"
plasmodium of Badhamia utricularis was exhibited under the
microscope, when the rhythmic flow of protoplasmic matter was
seen passing through a network of veins. This streaming of the
plasmodium in the Mycetozoa is the most remarkable in-
stance of the movement of naked protoplasm on a large scale
that is met with in Nature. A series of drawings representing
the sporangia of different species belonging to several genera of
Mycetozoa were arranged on a screen, and some explanation was
given of the various and beautiful structures by means of which
the minute spores are lifted from the sporangia, or so disposed
that they may be carried away by the winds. The germination
of the spores was then touched upon, and the manner in which
the contents of the spore emerge as an amoeboid body, or
"swarm-cell," which swims in the surrounding water with a
dancing movement caused by the lashing of a long flagellum.
The feeding by the swarm-cells on Bacteria, and their multipli-
cation by bi-partition was referred to, and their subsequent
coalescence to form the plasmodium such as was to be seen