20
INTRODUCTION
Systematic Arrangement.—In preparing this Catalogue of the
collection of Mycetozoa in the British Museum, the arrange­
ment of orders and genera given b y Rostafinski in his
Monograph* has in the main been followed, with such altera­
tions as observations made during recent years have rendered
necessary. D e Bary made the group the subject of minute
and thorough investigation ; f and Rostafinski, while studying
under him at Strassburg, devised a system of classification
which is clear and comprehensive, and is n o w generally
accepted.
The division b y Rostafinski of the main section Endosporeae
into two parts, distinguished b y the colour of the spores, has
been objected to as being artificial and wanting in universal
application, but the cases which offer difficulty with regard t o
their position under this scheme are few, and on the whole
the species range themselves under the separate heads in a
remarkably natural manner.
Although the search for specimens of the Mycetozoa has
been comparatively limited, owing, no d o u b t , to the small size
of the objects, yet in consequence of the persistent nature of
the sporangia, we possess, in the different herbaria, specimens
representing the gatherings from m a n y countries during more
than half a century, and some of them dating back a
hundred years. Where they have escaped rough treatment,
they completely retain their specific characters. W h e n we
consider the cosmopolitan distribution of the species, owing,
we m a y conclude, to the long-continued vitality and minuteness
of the spores, it m a y be doubted whether any hitherto
unsearched region will add very largely to the number with
which we are already acquainted. It is their life history
which is at present imperfectly known, and it is in this
•direction that the important work of the future must lie.
* Sluzowcc (Mycetozoa) Monographia (Paris : 1875).
t Comp. Morph, and Biol. Fungi, Mycetozoa, etc., 421.