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MVCETOZOA, ANIMAL-FUNGI OR FUNGOUS ANIMALS. 351
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in milk and l)ntter (C. Friinkel -^^). Its freqnent Qccurrenee in the
month is therefore easily explicable.
Cultures made from various parts of the month frequently
dev^elop one or more colonies of moulds, (See Fig. 15.)'
The mould-fungi of the oral cavity are, however, to be con-
sidered simply as occasional intermixtures ; they attain to no
marked development, with the single exception, possibly, of the
fungus designated by Dessois as Glossophyton, which is said to
occasion a disease of the mouth called " black tongue." " In-
tensely black, inky stains, with rough, furry surface, which
slowly spread and may disappear of their own accord, are found
mostly on the back of the tongue, sometimes on the middle,
sometimes in the margins, at the base, or the point. The
black discoloration is said to be communicated to the epithe-
lium by imbibition from the black fungus-spores." (Schech.)
This aifection seems, at best, to occur exceeding rarely, no other
case to my knowledge having been observed.

mycetozoa, animal-fungi or fungous animals.
(After Zopf-*^ and de Bary.-^^)

By the name Mycetozoa, de Bary has designated a group of
lowest organisms, Avhose proper position in the natural world is
still a subject of dispute, and which, consequently, have at pres-
ent been assigned a place outside of, or between, the animal and
vegetable kingdoms. They are, according to de Barj^'s concep-
tion, more nearly related to the simplest animal organisms (the
Amoebiie) than to the fungi.
The Myxomycetes (Schleimpilze, slime-fungi) form the chief
contingent of the Mycetozoa.
These may be frequently observed as naked, slimy, transparent,
amoeboidal, protoplasmic Ijodies, sometimes of considerable
size, mostly in moist places, on dead vegetable matter (leaves,
etc.), or on the trunks of trees. Their resemblance to fungi lies
partly in their mode of life and nourishment, and partly in the
fact that they form organs of reproduction which an- structurally
and biologically closely analogous to the spores of fungi. The
spores of Myxomycetes, when isolated, are almost Avithout ex-