Slime molds, or myxomycetes, as biologists call them, may not have a particularly attractive name, but members of the group produce fruiting bodies that exhibit incredibly diverse forms and colors and are often objects of considerable beauty. Most myxomycetes are quite small, reaching no more than a millimeter or two in height. Although large enough to be seen with the naked eye, the fruiting bodies of myxomycetes can best be observed with a hand lens or microscope. Only then can their intricate nature be fully appreciated. Fruiting bodies may take the shape of tiny goblets, globes, plumes, or other shapes more difficult to characterize. Some occur in tightly packed clusters, while others are scattered or even solitary. Many of the more intricate forms have a spore case held aloft on a delicate stalk, but others are attached directly to the substrate by their bases. Whatever form the fruiting body takes, its primary function is to produce the spores by which the myxomycete is propagated.

Myxomycetes have long intrigued and perplexed biologists because they possess characteristics of both animals and fungi. The fruiting bodies and spores they produce resemble those of many fungi, but some of their other attributes, including the capability for locomotion, are normally associated with animals.

For most of its life, a myxomycete exists as a thin, free-living mass of protoplasm. Sometimes this mass is several centimeters across and, as the name slime mold suggests, viscous and slimy to the touch. The mass of protoplasm, which is called a plasmodium (plural: plasmodia), can change form and creep slowly over the substrate upon which it occurs, much like a giant amoeba. As it moves, it feeds by engulfing bacteria and tiny bits of organic matter, another animal-like feature

Myxomycete plasmodia occur in cool, moist, shady places such as within crevices of decaying wood, beneath the partially decayed bark of logs and stumps, and in leaf litter. Consequently, they are not seen as frequently as are the fruiting bodies. Nonetheless, one can sometimes find plasmodia by stripping the bark from a decaying log or by carefully searching the moist underside of a piece of wood that has been lying on the forest floor. Plasmodia may be colorless or, as is more often the case, strikingly colored yellow, orange, or red.

After a period of feeding and growth, the plasmodium moves out of its normal habitat and into a drier, more exposed location. Here it gives rise to one or more fruiting bodies. This remarkable transformation from an animal-like to a funguslike form seems more like something from science fiction than like science fact. Each fruiting body contains numerous spores, which are dispersed by the wind and, under suitable conditions, germinate--the first stage in development of a new plasmodium.

Most people overlook myxomycetes because of their small size and because of where they occur . . . However, myxomycetes are among the most fascinating inhabitants of the woodlands of the world.