Notes on the Plasmodium of Badhamia utricularis and Brefeldia maxima

Abstract

With Plates I and II.T HE study of the plasmodium of Mycetozoa has received considerable attention on the Continent, and the account of the life-history of these remarkable organisms given by De Bary in the last edition of his ' Comparative Morphology and Biology of Fungi, Mycetozoa and Bacteria,' as well as those by Zopf and Sachs, afford an interesting view of their habits and properties ; but the investigations recorded by these authorities appear to have been chiefly directed to Fuligo varians and various species of Physarum, and in following the development from spore to sporangium of Chondrioderma difforme.Although the plasmodia of many Mycetozoa may be induced to crawl on a glass plate, where their rhythmic streaming may be observed, yet the comparatively short time that elapses between their emerging from hidden recesses in the substance of rotten wood, and their changing into sporangia, renders the greater number of them unsuitable for prolonged examination; none that I have met with is so favourable in this respect as that of Badhamia utricidaris, which wanders for the most part over the surface of dead stumps, and can easily be cultivated in glass boxes or under bell-jars.Another advantage in dealing with the plasmodium of Badhamia is the facility with which it can be thrown into