II. FILOPLASMODIEAE.—_Chlamydomyxa_[97] is a not uncommon inhabitant of the cells of bog-mosses and bog-pools, and its nutrition may be holophytic, as it contains chromoplasts; but it {91}can also feed amoeba-fashion. _Labyrinthula_ is marine, and in its fructification each of the component cells forms four spores. _Leydenia_ has been found in the fluid of ascitic dropsy, associated with malignant tumour. III. MYXOMYCETES.—The fructification in this group is not formed by the mere aggregation of the zoospores, but these fuse by their cytoplasm to form a multinucleate body, the "plasmodium," which, after moving and growing (with nuclear division) for some time like a great multinucleate Reticularian, passes into rest, and develops a fructification by the formation of a complex outer wall; within this the contents, after multiplication of the nuclei, resolve themselves into uninucleate spores, each with its own cyst-wall. The fructifications of this group are often conspicuous, and resemble those of the Gasteromycetous fungi (_e.g._, the Puffballs), whence they were at first called _Myxogastres_. De Bary first discovered their true nature in 1859, and ever since they have been claimed by botanist and zoologist alike. The spore on germination liberates its contents as a minute flagellate, with a single anterior lash and a contractile vacuole (Fig. 30, C). It soon loses the lash, becomes amoeboid, and feeds on bacteria, etc. (Fig. 30, D, E). In this state it can pass into hypnocysts, from which, as from the spores, it emerges as a flagellula. After a time the amoeboids, which may multiply by fission, fuse on meeting, so as to form the plasmodium (Fig. 30, F). This contains numerous nuclei, which multiply as it grows, and numerous contractile vacuoles. When it attains full size it becomes negatively hydrotactic, crawls to a dry place, and resolves itself into the fructification. The external wall, and sometimes a basal support to the fruit, are differentiated from the outer layer of protoplasm; while the nuclei within, after undergoing a final bipartition, concentrate each around an independent portion of plasma, which again is surrounded as a spore by a cyst-wall. Often the maturing plasmodium within the wall of the fruit is traversed by a network of anastomosing tubes filled with liquid, the walls of which become differentiated into membrane like the fruit-wall, and are continuous therewith. As the fruit ripens the liquid dries, and the tubes now form a network of hollow threads, the "capillitium," often with external spiral ridges (Fig. 30, A, B). These are very hygroscopic, and by their expansion and contraction {92}determine the rupture of the fruit-wall and the scattering of the spores.