MYCETOZOA

(Lat.), n. n. pi. Mi(mue)-se2t(kat)-o(o3)-zo'a3. From fivK-qt. 'a fungus, and <uov, a living being. Fr., mycetozoaires. Ger., Mycetozoen. A cla of the Gymnomyxa inhabiting damp surfaces exposed to the air, characterized by non-parasitism, by the formation usually of fusion (rarely of aggregation) plasmodia, by spores provided with a coat (chlamydospores) and formed either in naked groups of definite shape (sori), or on the surface of androphores, or in large fruit-like cysts which inclose parts or the whole of the spores, and develop a capillitium. They include the Surophora, Endospore a, and Exospore a. By most botanists these organisms are regarded as plants (see MYXOMYCETES); by De Bary and others as a cla of the Protozoa. [B, 121 (a, 35); L, 121.] MYCHMUS (Lat.), [s. 52]