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II
A Monograph o f the Myxogastres.
MYCETOZOA.
I
Swarm-cells coalescing
form a plasmodmm.
= M y x om y c èt e s .
Swarm-cells becoming
aggregated, but not
coalescing to form a
plasmodium.
= A c r a s ie a e .
Cienkowski’s Nuclearim and Vampyrellae along •with such
genera as Bursella, Protomyxa, Myxastrum, Manas, Monadapsis,
Pseudospm'a, Oolpodella, and Plasmodiophora are considered by
De Bary as “ doubtful Mycetozoa ” for the following reasons. “ I
here exclude from the ranks of the true Mycetozoa a few forms
or groups of forms, some of which have been occasioDally
mentioned in the preceding sections. Those forms, so far as
they are known, have many points of resemblance with the
Mycetozoa, but either our knowledge of them is imperfect, or
else they depart so far in certain points from the typical
Myxomjmetes and Acrasieae, that it is better to leave their
position in the system for the present undetermined.” ’
Although De Bary clearly indicated that the existing classification
of the Mycetozoa was very imperfect, being the outcome
of pooket-lens observations on mature forms, and as above
indicated, pointed out a scheme in accordance with the modern
system of research, yet, lacking time, he never completed all
the details necessary for a thorough revision of the group. This
was done however by Dr, Kostafinski, a student of De Baiy’s,
and as at least some of Rostafinski’s important work on this
subject was done by Rostafinski in De Bary’s laboratory at
Strassburg, -we may presume that tlie general scheme was more
or less inspired by De Bary.
Rostafinski confined his attention to the group Myxomycetes
as defined by De Bary, and this group he calls Mycetozoa, thus
using the same name in a narrower sense than De Bary, who
included the Acrasieae that do not form a plasmodium, and in
Lis Monograph ® recognized two primary divisions—Exospoheah,
’ Fungi Mycetozoa and Bacteria, Engl, ed., p. 44G.
2 Mongrajia Sluzowce, Paris, 1875 (in PoUsli).
having the spores produced externally on slender sporophores, a
feature met with only in the genus Geratium; and E n d o s f o r e a e ,
having the spores produced in sporangia. In the second
“ Appendix ” to the Monograph, amongst other changes in the
classification, the E x o s po r e a e division is omitted altogether,
and the Endosporous division alone retained. In Rostafinski s
classification the two primary divisions are founded on the
colour of the spores as seen under the microscope by transmitted
licfht; each primary division is further divided into two sections
determined by the presence or absence of a eapillitium as
shown in the following arrangement—
MYCETOZOA.
ENDOSPOREAE.
A m a o e o s p o r e a e .
Spores violet or brownish-
violet.
I
L a m p k o s p o e e a e .
Spores yellow or brownisb,
never violet.
A t r ic 'h a b . T r ic h o p h o e a e . A t r io h a e . T r ic h o p h o e a e .
Von Tieghen uses the name Myxomycètes in a broader sense
than De Bary’s Mycetozoa, and arranges the groups as follows: ’
MYXOMYCETES.
THALLUS.
Unicellnlar.
without a plasmodinin.
= P l a sm o d io p h o r e a e .
Plnricellular.
cells aggregated but not fusing
to form a plasmodium.
= A c r a s ie a e .
Cells fusing to form
a plasmodmm.
Spores produced in
a sporangium,
= E n d o m y x e a e .
Spores produced externally.
= C e r a t ie a e .
Traité de Botauùpie, p. 992 (1884).