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Emergence, Complexity and Computation ECC
Andrew Adamatzky Editor
Advances in
Physarum
Machines
Sensing and Computing with Slime
Mould
Emergence, Complexity and Computation
Volume 21
Series editors
Ivan Zelinka, Technical University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic
e-mail: ivan.zelinka@vsb.cz
Andrew Adamatzky, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
e-mail: adamatzky@gmail.com
Guanrong Chen, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
e-mail: eegchen@cityu.edu.hk
Editorial Board
Ajith Abraham, MirLabs, USA
Ana Lucia C. Bazzan, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto
Alegre, RS, Brazil
Juan C. Burguillo, University of Vigo, Spain
Sergej Čelikovský, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic
Mohammed Chadli, University of Jules Verne, France
Emilio Corchado, University of Salamanca, Spain
Donald Davendra, Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
Andrew Ilachinski, Center for Naval Analyses, USA
Jouni Lampinen, University of Vaasa, Finland
Martin Middendorf, University of Leipzig, Germany
Edward Ott, University of Maryland, USA,
Linqiang Pan, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Gheorghe Păun, Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania
Hendrik Richter, HTWK Leipzig University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Juan A. Rodriguez-Aguilar, IIIA-CSIC, Spain
Otto Rössler, Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Tübingen, Germany
Vaclav Snasel, Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
Ivo Vondrák, Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
Hector Zenil, Karolinska Institute, Sweden
About this Series
The Emergence, Complexity and Computation (ECC) series publishes new

developments, advancements and selected topics in the fields of complexity,
computation and emergence. The series focuses on all aspects of reality-based
computation approaches from an interdisciplinary point of view especially from
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computing and computing on the edge of chaos, computational aspects of dynamics
of complex systems (systems with self-organization, multiagent systems, cellular
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contributions from specialized conferences and workshops, special contribution
from international experts.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10624

Andrew Adamatzky
Editor
Advances in Physarum
Machines
Sensing and Computing with Slime Mould
123
Editor
Andrew Adamatzky
Unconventional Computing Centre
University of the West of England
Bristol
UK
ISSN 2194-7287 ISSN 2194-7295 (electronic)

Emergence, Complexity and Computation
ISBN 978-3-319-26661-9 ISBN 978-3-319-26662-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-26662-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015954974
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

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Preface
Slime mould Physarum polycephalum is a large single cell capable for distributed
sensing, concurrent information processing, parallel computation and decentralized
actuation. The ease of culturing and experimenting with Physarum makes this slime
mould an ideal substrate for real-world implementations of unconventional sensing
and computing devices. The book is a treatise of theoretical and experimental
laboratory studies on sensing and computing properties of slime mould, and on
development of mathematical and logical theories of Physarum behaviour. We
show how to make logical gates and circuits, electronic devices (memristors,
diodes, transistors, wires and chemical and tactile sensors) with the slime mould.
We demonstrate how to modify properties of Physarum computing circuits with
functional nanoparticles and polymers, to interface the slime mould with
field-programmable arrays, and to use Physarum as a controller of microbial fuel
cells. Physarum solves spatial problems by developing an optimal network of
protoplasmic tubes. We use this feature of the slime mould to imitate road networks
and mass migration, historical developments and future space explorations.
A unique multi-agent model of slime is shown to serve well as a software slime
mould capable for solving problems of computational geometry and graph opti-
mization. The multi-agent model is complemented by cellular automata models
with parallel accelerations. Mathematical models inspired by Physarum include
non-quantum implementation of Shor’s factorization, structural learning and
computation of shortest path tree on dynamic graphs, supply chain network design,
p-adic computing and syllogistic reasoning. Spatio-temporal behaviour of the slime
mould has also manifested in musical composition, artistic interacting perfor-
mances, translating Physarum responses to environmental stimuli to emotions of an
android robot and mechanics of creativity. The book is a unique composition of
vibrant and lavishly illustrated essays which will inspire scientists, engineers and
artists to exploit natural phenomena in designs of future and emergent computing
and sensing devices.
Bristol Andrew Adamatzky
v
Contents
Part I Experimental
Biology of the Physarum polycephalum Plasmodium: Preliminaries
for Unconventional Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Richard Mayne
Physarum, Quo Vadis? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Martin Grube
Logical Gates and Circuits Implemented in Slime Mould . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Andrew Adamatzky, Jeff Jones, Richard Mayne, Soichiro Tsuda
and James Whiting
On the Memristive Properties of Slime Mould . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Ella Gale, Andrew Adamatzky and Ben de Lacy Costello
Physarum in Hybrid Electronic Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Alice Dimonte, Silvia Battistoni and Victor Erokhin
Physarum-Inspired Electronic and Nanoelectronic Computing
Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Seiya Kasai, Ryo Wakamiya, Yushi Abe, Masashi Aono,
Makoto Naruse, Hiroyoshi Miwa and Song-Ju Kim
Slime Mould Nanotechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Richard Mayne and Andrew Adamatzky
Long-Term Storable Microfluidic Whole-Cell Biosensor
Using Physarum polycephalum for Toxicity Prescreening . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Soicdhiro Tsuda, Klaus-Peter Zauner and Hywel Morgan
Routing Physarum “Signals” with Chemicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Ben De Lacy Costello and Andrew Adamatzky
vii
viii Contents
A Chemomodulatory Platform for Physarum polycephalum

Incorporating Genetically Transformed Plant Root Cultures . . . . . . . . . 195
Vincent Ricigliano, Brent A. Berger, Javed Chitaman,
Jingjing Tong, Veronica Thompson, Aedric Lim, Christopher Brooks,
Andrew Adamatzky and Dianella G. Howarth
Chemical Sensors and Information Fusion in Physarum . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
James G.H. Whiting, Ben De Lacy Costello and Andrew Adamatzky
Physarum Wires, Sensors and Oscillators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Andrew Adamatzky
Physarum and Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
James G.H. Whiting and Andrew Adamatzky
Slime Mould Controller for Microbial Fuel Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Benjamin Taylor, Andrew Adamatzky, John Greenman
and Ioannis Ieropoulos
Towards a Slime Mould-FPGA Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Richard Mayne, Michail-Antisthenis Tsompanas,
Georgios Ch. Sirakoulis and Andrew Adamatzky
Slime Mould Approximates Longest Roads in USA
and Germany: Experiments on 3D Terrains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Andrew Adamatzky
Recolonisation of USA: Slime Mould on 3D Terrains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Andrew Adamatzky and Genaro J. Martinez
Application of Slime Mould Computing on Archaeological
Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Vasilis Evangelidis, Michail-Antisthenis I. Tsompanas,
Georgios Ch. Sirakoulis and Andrew Adamatzky
Power Laws of the Physarum Plasmodium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Tomohiro Shirakawa
Physarum Imitates Exploration and Colonisation of Planets . . . . . . . . . 395
Andrew Adamatzky, Rachel Armstrong, Ben De Lacy Costello
and Jeff Jones
Part II Theoretical
Memristive and Memcapacitive Models of Physarum
Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
Y.V. Pershin and M. Di Ventra
Contents ix
Multi-agent Slime Mould Computing: Mechanisms, Applications

and Advances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Jeff Jones
Towards a Non-quantum Implementation of Shor's
Factorization Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Ed Blakey
Modelling Oscillatory Behaviour of Slime Mould . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
Takuya Umedachi and Akio Ishiguro
Physarum Learner: A Slime Mold Inspired Structural
Learning Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
T. Schön, M. Stetter, O. Belova, A. Koch, A.M. Tomé and E.W. Lang
Slime Mould Inspired Applications on Graph-Optimization
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
Xiaoge Zhang, Cai Gao, Yong Deng and Zili Zhang
Cellular Automata Models Simulating Slime Mould Computing . . . . . . 563
Michail-Antisthenis I. Tsompanas, Georgios Ch. Sirakoulis
and Andrew Adamatzky
Parallel Acceleration of Slime Mould Discrete Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595
Nikolaos I. Dourvas, Michail-Antisthenis I. Tsompanas
and Georgios Ch. Sirakoulis
p-Adic Computation with Physarum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
Andrew Schumann and Krzysztof Pancerz
Syllogistic Versions of Go Games on Physarum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
Andrew Schumann
Halting Physarum Machines Based on Compressibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
Andrew Adamatzky and Jeff Jones
Decision-Making at the Cellular Level: The Physarum Paradigm . . . . . 705
Stamatios C. Nicolis
Towards Collective Visual Perception in a Multi-agent Model
of Slime Mould . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
Jeff Jones
Part III Music and Art

Physarum-Based Memristors for Computer Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755
Edward Braund, Raymond Sparrow and Eduardo Miranda
Translating Slime Mould Responses: A Novel Way to Present
Data to the Public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
Ella Gale and Andrew Adamatzky
x Contents
The Creeping Garden: Articulating the Science of Slime Mould

on Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789
Jasper Sharp
Bodymetries. A Generative Projection Environment
for Slime Mould and Humans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801
Theresa Schubert, Michael Markert, Moritz Dressler
and Andrew Adamatzky
On Creativity of Slime Mould . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
Andrew Adamatzky, Rachel Armstrong, Jeff Jones and Yukio Gunji
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831
Part I
Experimental
Biology of the Physarum polycephalum
Plasmodium: Preliminaries
for Unconventional Computing
Richard Mayne
Abstract Slime mould Physarum polycephalum is a macroscopic amoeba-like

organism whose ability to ‘compute’ the solutions to complex problems ranging from
logic to computational geometry has led to its extensive use as an unconventional
computing substrate. In slime mould computing devices—‘Physarum machines’—
data may be imparted to the organism via stimulation with chemical, optical,
mechanical or electrical sources and outputs are generally behavioural, chemical
or/and electrical. This chapter examines the biological basis of a slime mould’s
ability to perceive and act upon input data and the mechanisms that contribute towards
the output we interpret as computation. Furthermore, various research methods for
slime mould cultivation, electrophysiological measurement and hybridisation with
exogenous substances are discussed. The data presented here provides an essen-
tial foundation for the computer scientist wishing to fabricate their own Physarum
machines.
1 Introduction
It has long-since been recognised that the unique physiology of the slime moulds
make them ideal research organisms, but the past decade has seen a veritable explo-
sion of research expounding the use of one particular slime mould—Physarum poly-
cephalum—as a living unconventional computing substrate, the ‘Physarum machine’
[1]. Although the foundations of the study of life processes as expressions of ‘nat-
ural’ computing was first formalised in the 1950s by the early cyberneticists, the
assertion that a live organism may be utilised in the construction of laboratory pro-
totypes of functional computing systems is nevertheless an unintuitive and esoteric
concept at the time of writing. The authors propose that the reason for this is the
relative complexity of biological organisms in comparison with computers: we have
had the benefit of guiding the evolution of computers from their elementary units
and hence have a deep appreciation of how they function. When compared to our
R. Mayne (B)
Unconventional Computing Centre, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
e-mail: richard.mayne@uwe.ac.uk
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 3

A. Adamatzky (ed.), Advances in Physarum Machines, Emergence,
Complexity and Computation 21, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-26662-6_1
4 R. Mayne
understanding of biological processes which we have undergone some 3 billion years

of intensive but unguided development, it is understandable that whilst we are now
programming computers to undertake extremely complex calculations, we are still
reading the instruction manual for our own bodies. When we characterise certain
natural processes as computation, we are attempting to use biology to perform use-
ful calculations in the manner of a regular computer: it follows, therefore, that a
thorough and intuitive understanding of the processes we are hijacking to our own
ends is required.
Slime mould is an ideal ‘entry-level’ biological computing substrate as it is
arguably a ‘simpler’ organism than, say, a mammal. Simplicity is a dangerous word
in this context as of course, slime mould is no less developed than any other life form
but rather is, by virtue of being a highly resilient macroscopic single cell, somewhat
easier to study than organisms composed of a multitude of indivudally fragile and
complexly interrelated cells.
This chapter explores the underlying biological phenomena that we choose to
characterise in the language of computation and provides the necessary knowledge
to begin experimenting in the field of Physarum Computing.
2 Taxonomy, Morphology, Habitat and Life Cycle
Slime moulds are not fungi as their name implies, although they were historically
considered to be after their initial taxonomical classification. They are broad, diverse
group of amoeboid organisms (phylum Amoebozoa, infraphylum Mycetozoa) that
reproduce via spores and are grouped into three major taxa: the ‘true’, or ‘plas-
modial’ slime moulds (class Myxogastria, but the constituent organisms are more
commonly known as Myxomycetes), the cellular slime moulds (Dictyosteliida) and
the often-overlooked Protostelids [2, 3]. The former group consists of the slime
moulds that exist as a syncytium—a single cell by virtue of the entire organism
being encapsulated by a single membrane, but containing more than one nucleus:
indeed, a single organism will typically contain many millions of nuclei and may
therefore be thought of many cells living in unison, rather than just one single cell
[4, 5]. It is for this reason that they were historically called ‘acellular’, as opposed to
‘unicellular’, but it is now more common to refer to the true slime moulds by the name
of their vegetative (resting) life cycle phase, the ‘plasmodium’ (pl. plasmodia), as this
term also implies other facts about the state of the organism. The genus Physarum
belongs to this taxon. This is contrasted with the cellular slime moulds, who are
composed of macroscopic masses of many distinct cells living in unison, and the
Protostelids, who are more distantly-related microscopic variants [2, 6].
The Physarum plasmodium is a yellow amorphous mass (Fig. 2) that can range
in size from a few mm2 to over half a m2 [7]. The organism will typically be com-
posed of a network of tubular ‘vein-like’ structures whose topology may dynamically
rearrange, which anastamose into a ‘fan-like’ advancing anterior margin. On nutrient-
rich substrates the organism will tend to possess proportionally more fan-like fronts,
Biology of the Physarum polycephalum Plasmodium … 5
Fig. 1 Map to show prevalence of the genus Physarum throughout the world, where yellow through
red marks represent a relative scale of reports of incidence. Reprinted with permission from the
Encyclopaedia of Life [10]
implying that these high surface area structures are better adapted for nutrient absorp-
tion. The plasmodium is able to crawl at speeds exceeding 1 cm/h; the mechanisms
underlying this are explored in Sect. 3.
Physarum and it’s related species are found worldwide but are most concentrated
in Europe, North America and Japan (Fig. 1) and typically reside in dark, moist
Fig. 2 Photograph of the Physarum plasmodium growing in 9 cm Petri dishes. a On non-nutrient

agar sprinkled with oats, the plasmodium take a diminutive morphology composed of thin tubular
structures and a ‘fan-shaped’ advancing margin. b On nutrient-rich substrates such as agar infused
with oat flakes, the organism forms an amorphous mass more akin to the advancing margin in the
previous image
6 R. Mayne
places such as the bark of fallen trees when in its plasmodial life cycle stage. Mul-
tiple sources state that the organism is both predatory and saprophytic: its natural
foodstuffs include fungal spores, bacteria, smaller amoebae and decaying matter,
the latter of which may be digested extracellularly through the secretion of enzymes
[3, 8]. In laboratory experiments, the preferred nutrient source is ordinary oat flakes,
although nutrient agarose (agar) plates are also suitable and fully-defined (axenic)
culture media exist [9]. The organism requires a well hydrated substrate. Non-nutrient
agar gel or moistened kitchen towel are both widely used experimentally.
All true slime moulds reproduce by sporulation. Certain factors, such as starva-
tion, light irradiation and dehydration will prompt the plasmodium to irreversibly
transform into a multitude of black, globulose structures known as sporangia that
harbour the organism’s spores. Unusually, spores may germinate into either unicel-
lular, uninucleated microscopic amoebae (myxamoebae) or, if the organisms growth
Fig. 3 Photographs to illustrate the life cycle stages of Physarum. a Fragments of sclerotium.
b Sporangia. c Spores. d Swarm cell (arrowed). c, d Scale bar = 10 µm
medium is liquid, a flagellated version of the myxamoeba known as a swarm cell.

Spores, myxamoebae and swarm cells are all haploid—i.e. have half the number of
chromosomes of the mature organism—but may reproduce sexually or asexually, as
required [3]. Following reproduction, a plasmodium develops. True slime moulds
have another life cycle phase called the sclerotium, which is a highly resistant des-
iccated form that the organism will assume if environmental conditions become too
unfavourable. This is a fully reversible process: a sclerotium can be revert back to
a viable plasmodium provided suitable culture conditions are provided. As sclerotia
remain viable for several years, the slime mould researcher may capitalise upon this
to build a long-term stockpile for storage and transport of the organism without the
requirement for cryogenic preservation. Some of P. polycephalum’s life cycle forms
are illustrated in Fig. 3.
3 Cell Biology and Physiology
3.1 Motility
The name ‘Physarum polycephalum’ is often mis-translated, which is unfortunate as

it is very descriptive of the organism. ‘Physarum’ is commonly quoted as meaning
‘slime’, but is in fact derived from the Latin physarion, which can mean bellows or
syringe [11, 12]. Both adequately refer to the rhythmic contraction and relaxation of
the organism which drives the movement of fluid through the centre of the organism,
as will be explored presently. ‘Polycephalum’ is less cryptic as it translates fairly
directly as ‘many headed’. Some have suggested that this refers to its multinuclear-
ity, but this seems unlikely as although the cell nucleus had been observed by the
early microscopists in the mid 18th century, it was only fully described in 18031 some
9 years after the first description of the genus Physarum by Persoon [14]. It seems
likely therefore that the name refers to the fact that multiple apparently autonomous
leading edges may exist in one plasmodium. This is an observation of note as some
of the first work on slime mould computing was based on the principle that Physarum
can ‘choose’ the most efficient path between food sources. The biological basis for
this involves the slime mould identifying chemical gradients with multiple advanc-
ing margins (or many ‘heads’) before ‘deciding’ to navigate along the strongest
gradient. This has been interpreted as slime mould undertaking problem solving and
network optimization, such as in the ground-breaking experiments that demonstrated
Physarum calculating efficient routes through labyrinths and approximating global
transport networks [15, 16]. As such, migratory patterns may be thought of as a form
of output from a Physarum machine where chemoattractants were used as the input
(see Sects. 3.3 and 5).
1 Forthe reader’s interest, Brown is credited with the discovery which was presented in 1831, but
he graciously acknowledged the earlier observations of Bauer [13].
8 R. Mayne
Physarum achieves motility by rhythmic propulsion of its cytoplasm via the con-
traction of muscle proteins that sit circumferentially about the interior of plasmodial
tubes. Cytoplasm flow oscillates anteroposteriorly every 60–120 s. Net anterograde
movement is achieved by gelation of the posterior end and solation of the ante-
rior margin, combined with tip growth of intracellular protein networks [7, 17, 18].
These protein networks, which are collectively known as the cytoskeleton, are pre-
dominantly composed of actin, which provides mechanical support, a network for
intracellular signalling and participates in the muscular contractions which propel
the cytoplasm with the aid off another muscle protein, myosin [19]. This regular
contraction-relaxation cycle that propels the cytoplasm is known as shuttle stream-
ing, which also serves to distribute the contents of the cytoplasm (organelles, absorbed
foodstuffs etc.) throughout the organism. It has been suggested that the plasmodial
actin network is a rich medium for over-riding natural signalling processes to imple-
ment intracellular computation [20].
New evidence has surfaced in recent years indicating that contractions in net-
works of protoplasmic tubes are peristaltic, i.e. discrete waves of contraction prop-
agate through the tube network according to a contraction pattern consisting of a
single wavelength [21]. Although oscillators with apparently simple dynamics are
an attractive substrate for unconventional computing, the researcher should be aware
that historical literature emphatically states that tube contraction is simultaneous and
monorhythmic in larger tubes, at least in smaller plasmodia [7, 17].2
3.2 Cytology
The plasmodial tube may be sub-divided into three distinct layers (Fig. 4):
1. The slime layer (glycocalyx). This is a sheath of mucopolysaccharide-rich liquid
coating the organism after which it is named [7]. Its purposes are many, but
include protecting the organism from desiccation and aiding the solubilisation
and extracellular digestion of food. The slime layer also mediates one of the
most interesting characteristics of the organism, which is the extracellular spatial
‘memory’ that was first described relatively recently by Reid et al. [23]. As a
plasmodium migrates around its environment, it leaves an trail of slime in its
wake which contains the organism’s effluvia. The plasmodium is able to sense the
chemicals it leaves behind and will avoid areas it has previously visited by virtue
of this mechanism: the aforementioned researchers found that this extracellular
‘memory’ is used by the organism to allow it to solve problems of navigation that
are usually reserved for robots, such as the U-shaped barrier test.
2. The ectoplasm. This is a highly vacuolated region which sits circumferentially
about the tube periphery and contains the majority of the organism’s cytoskeleton:
it’s actin network, in particular, is extremely dense here and is oriented in radial,
2 It
is beyond the scope of this chapter to discuss the discrepancies between recent and historical
results but we refer the reader to Refs. [7, 21, 22] for a deeper explanation.
Fig. 4 Schematic diagram of a transverse section through a plasmodial tube. SL: slime layer, V:
vacuole, Ec: ectoplasm, En: endoplasm. Adapted from Ref. [28]
longitudinal and spiral patterns (Fig. 5b) [24–26]. Cytoplasm flows extremely
slowly through this region and hence it is often referred to as a gel when charac-
terising the organism as a gel-sol system.
3. The endoplasm. This region comprises the hydrodynamic core of the organism
through which the cytoplasm moves rapidly. It is the sol component of the sol-
gel system. Although the boundary between ecto- and endoplasm is indistinct,
it is readily distinguishable by its comparative lack of vacuoles. When muscle
proteins contract in the ectoplasm, it generates pressure in the endoplasm, thereby
producing propulsive force [27].
As aforementioned, plasmodia contain a great many nuclei, the number of which
can exceed 108 per organism [29]. The majority of a plasmodium’s nuclei are con-
centrated at the anterior margin, presumably as it is the most metabolically-active
region, but plasmodial tubes also contain a reasonable number of nuclei within the
endoplasm (Fig. 5). It seems likely that nuclei are anchored to and transported upon
the organism’s actin network [20]. As a eukaryotic cell, slime moulds contain most
of the organelles that one would expect to find in a mammalian cell, including golgi
apparatus, mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum (Fig. 6). Unlike human cells,
however, the plasmodium contains numerous phospholipid membrane-bound vesi-
cles whose purposes include endocytosis, exocytosis and transcytosis (see Sect. 4).
10 R. Mayne
Fig. 5 Confocal micrograph showing nuclei (blue) and actin (red) in a 4 µm-thick transverse section
through a plasmodial tube. Nuclei are more concentrated in the growing tip in the lower-left hand
portion of the image and the actin network is extremely dense throughout. Scale bar = 40 µm. For
methods, see Ref. [20]
3.3 Bioelectrical Characteristics and Chemical Oscillators
Slime mould computing is an art of ‘programming’ the organism with inputs it can
perceive (which is covered in Sect. 5) and interpreting some aspect of the organism’s
behaviour as an output [30]. When choosing the most suitable output to measure, one
must consider aspects such as speed of response, repeatability and relative complexity
of the interface. Measurement of bioelectrical activity is an attractive prospect as
electrical responses to stimulation are easy to measure and relatively rapid when
compared to interpretation of migratory behaviour. Electrical measurements may
also be automated and interfaced with conventional hardware with relative ease.
The simplest way to achieve this is to measure potential non-invasively through a
thin layer of agar via underlying electrodes (see Sect. 6 for details of methods). When
measured in this manner, plasmodial bioelectricity oscillates rhythmically with a
typical amplitude of 1–15 mV. This electrical oscillation directly corresponds with the
Fig. 6 Transmission electron micrographs of 80 nm ultrathin transverse sections through a plas-

modial tube, demonstrating the presence of several organelles in the ectoplasm. a The outer mem-
brane of the ectoplasm: three mitochondria are present, one of which is arrowed. Endocytotic
vesicles are also present. b Two nuclei in different replictory stages are adjacent to several vesicles.
a, b Scale bar = 1 µm. See Ref. [28] for methods
period of shuttle streaming: the cytoplasm reverses at each peak and trough. This can
be investigated by concurrently observing the organism via light microscope whilst
measuring electrical activity: tube diameter oscillates in time with electrical signals
and cytoplasm flows, which is presumably a result of the muscular contractions in
the ectoplasm that drive shuttle streaming (Fig. 7). Tube electrical resistance also
oscillates rhythmically with the same period as shuttle streaming [28].
The key determinant of plasmodial electrical activity was once thought to be the
influx/efflux of calcium ions corresponding with actomyosin contraction/relaxation,
but this has been repeatedly called into question. It is now thought that membrane
potential is driven by hydrogen ion pumps which reflect the state of the organism’s
metabolic oscillators [31, 32].
The researcher should be aware that the plasmodium cannot be innervated electri-
cally (although it does exhibit mild galvanotaxis, see Sect. 5) and that multiple chem-
ical and biophysical oscillators contribute to the periodic events we may observe,
the most notable being levels of ATP (a biological molecule that may be regarded
as ‘energy currency’), macromolecular synthesis, enzyme synthesis and intratubu-
lar pressure. We refer the reader Ref. [7] for a review of the historical literature
concerning plasmodial chemical oscillators with reference to motive systems.
4 Plasmodial Incorporation of Exogenous Materials
The ability of the Physarum plasmodium to internalise and retain exogenous sub-
stances was first described in 1960 by Guttes and Guttes [33] who distinguished that
some, but not all, of the numerous vesicles that travel through the plasmodium are
12 R. Mayne
Fig. 7 Correlative light microscopy and electrophysiological measurement of a plasmodial tube.

a, b Photomicrographs of a plasmodial tube taken approximately 1100 s apart with diameter mea-
surements. The tube dilates to nearly 125 % of its minimum diameter. c Graph of membrane potential
showing the time points at which the photomicrographs were captured (red circles and text)
pinocytotic (involved in the internalisation of small objects and fluid). It was not
until the sudden surge of interest in slime mould as an unconventional computing
substrate, however, that it was realised that this mechanism could be manipulated
for practical purposes: studies by Nakagaki et al. [34] and Adamatzky [35] reported
that, through the saturation of nutrient sources in coloured food-grade dyes, Physarum
plasmodia can be ‘fed’ substances of interest. Coloured compounds were found to
not only discolour the entire organism following ‘feeding’, but were retained to such
a degree that if a second, different-coloured ‘meal’ was provided, both dyes become
mixed in situ to produce an appropriate secondary colour; this was used to indi-
cate the successful implementation of programmable colour-mixing operations in
the latter reference. Feeding is therefore a potential mechanism by which exogenous
substances of interest may be introduced into the organism which is a viable route to
achieve plasmodial hybridisation, e.g. with artificial circuit elements [28, 36], and
is explored more thoroughly in Chap. 7.
The basis for plasmodial integration of environmentally-acquired material include
both pinocytosis and phagocytosis [37], however, the latter being a mechanism not
dissimilar to those employed by leukocytes for removing pathogens from the bodies
of mammals. Both forms of substance internalisation are collectively known as endo-
cytosis. Where pinocytosis involves the in-folding of the cell’s membrane to make
‘pockets’ that catch small objects from the environment that are consequently inter-
nalised within phospholipid membrane-bound vesicles, phagocytosis is the exten-
sion of finger-like projections (pseudopodia) from the cell’s membrane through the
momentary assembly of protein scaffolding at its peripheral regions which form
invaginations around the item to be internalised, which are typically far larger than
those that are pinocytosed. Eventually, the tips of extending pseudopodia fully engulf
the foreign substance which then diffuses into the cell in a vesicle. Crucially, whilst
slime mould endocytotic mechanisms are not well-characterised, the internalisation
route may alter the way in which the endocytosed material is mixed with the cell’s
cytoplasm.
Does this imply, then, that we are functionally limited to the size of object we
can coax into the organism, and if so, does this limit the usefulness of the ‘feed-
ing’ technique? Will some objects be internalised whilst others are transcytosed?
Indeed, Githens and Karnovsky [38] suggested that the optimum size of object that
the cellular slime mould Polysphondylium pallidum can internalise is about 1 µm,
although the differences between the cellular slime moulds and acellular varieties
such as Physarum disallow direct comparison. In any eventuality, if Physarum is
indeed able to internalise a range of sizes of exogenous object, it seems likely that
different sized objects will be internalised by different mechanisms which may in
turn alter the ways in which they interact with the organism.
5 Programming the Plasmodium: Attractants

and Repellents
To program a Physarum machine we must deliver it ‘information’ in a format that it

can understand and interpret [30]. Furthermore, if we are to interpret the resulting
phenomena correctly, we must be able to measure a repeatable and unambiguous
output, just as we would have to when designing a conventional computer. This
section briefly delineates each of the input types we may use with slime mould
computing devices, outlines their underlying biological bases and discusses their
benefits and detriments.
14 R. Mayne
5.1 Chemical
As previously discussed, a number of slime mould computing devices fabricated to

date rely heavily on P. polycephalum’s ability to sense and migrate towards or away
from certain chemical gradients (chemotaxis). As this is essentially interpreting the
plasmodium’s inherent foraging behaviour as a ‘useful’ output, we can state that the
organism is being ‘programmed’ with strategically-placed food sources.
The plasmodium is sensitive to a wide variety of chemicals, however, not all
of which are attractants. Slime mould is attracted to compounds known to sedate
mammals such as valerian root, suggesting that phenomena such as reception of
pheromonal and sedative chemicals in higher organisms may have roots in single-
celled life [39, 40]. In a comprehensive study, de Lacy Costello and Adamatzky [41]
assessed the relative strengths of plasmodial attraction and repulsion from a wide
range of volatile organic compounds, in which it was found that the plasmodium
displays a strong preference for non-oxygenated terpene derivatives and repulsion
from compounds such as alcohols and aldehydes. Whilst it is perhaps not surprising
that some of the compounds have the effects they do (e.g. repulsion from aldehydes
due to their being potent biocides), these studies demonstrate that the degree of
repulsion or attraction of a chemical may be tightly controlled by appropriate choice
of compound and concentration. Plasmodial behaviour has been accurately modelled
with multi-agent modelling developed by Jones [42], wherein individual particles
follow simulated attractant and repellent gradient.
At the molecular level, chemotaxis involves stimulation of the plasma membrane,
through which a signal is transduced to the organism’s motive system. Some chemical
signals are received by membrane-bound chemoreceptors which cause intracellular
chemical signals to be generated to a degree proportional to the amount of receptors
activated and the strength with which the sensed compound binds with the recep-
tors. Receptors may have an excitatory or inhibitory effect, corresponding to the
generation of attractive and repulsive behaviour, respectively. Chemicals for which
the organism doesn’t have receptors interact with the membrane electrostatically or
diffuse through it, which will also lead to the generation of an appropriate intracel-
lular chemical signal [43]. Attractive chemical signals precipitate the activation of a
variety of systems coordinated by second messenger pathways which promote local
cytoskeletal assembly (leading to tip growth), ectoplasmic solation and acto-myosin
contraction; vice versa occurs with chemorepellents [44].
It is clear that chemicals are a powerful form of input into the Physarum machine,
but their use is not without detriments. The experimental use of attraction/repulsion as
input usually implies that plasmodial migration will be the result of any computation,
which is, as aforementioned, a slow process. Furthermore, as it is very difficult to
prevent chemical signals from diffusing into substrates such as agar, it is virtually
impossible to implement a ‘dynamic’ chemical input that can be removed mid-
experiment.
5.2 Optical
Physarum is an inherently photophobic organism and will tend to inhabit shaded areas
in its natural habitat, presumably to avoid dehydration and ultraviolet light-induced
cellular damage. Laboratory experiments should ideally be conducted in a complete
absence of light, although low-intensity white light or wavelengths in the infra-red
region are acceptable if the organism is irradiated continually. Different wavelengths
of light can precipitate profoundly different behaviours, although published data is
sometimes contradictory concerning their exact effects: ultraviolet and blue light
are cited as promoting sporulation but is also strongly repellent, whereas red light
has been reported to be an attractant [45, 46]. In more recent studies, green light
generated by LED arrays was found to be an adequately strong repellent without
causing noticeable deleterious health effects (when compared with blue, yellow and
red, Fig. 8), although light intensity is the overriding factor when comparing sources
of different intensities.
Cytoplasmic photoreceptors are responsible for absorbing light and transducing
the stimulus, the absorption spectra of which peak at 370 nm [45, 48]. These recep-
tors are pigment molecules which undergo a conformational or chemical change
following the absorption of a photon within a particular range of wavelengths which
then proceeds to assume a high energy state and catalyses a signal transduction
cascade. This is similar to the manner in which chlorophyll contributes to the con-
version of sunlight to chemical energy in plant cell chloroplasts. When choosing a
wavelength of light to use as a stimulus, one must be aware that although UV light
induces sporulation (which is irreversible) at low intensities and plasmodial death
Fig. 8 Photographs of an experiment designed to determine the most repellent colour of LED,
wherein the plasmodium (arrowed) is given a binary choice to migrate between two nutrient sources
illuminated with different colours of light. See Ref. [47] for full methods and results. a Time = 0 h.
b Time = 12 h. The plasmodium has choosen to migrate towards blue
16 R. Mayne
at higher intensities, 650–670 nm light has also been described as causing sporu-
lation, although green light (even in the presence of other wavelengths) between
540–620 nm may prevent sporulation [45, 49]. Stimulation with other wavelengths
or mixed-wavelength sources of high-enough intensity will precipitate sclerotiniza-
tion.
As an input into a Physarum machine, light has the benefit of being dynamic, i.e.
it can be activated and deactivated during the course of an experiment [50]. Func-
tional slime mould computing devices fabricated to date include systems mimicking
reaction-diffusion wave dynamics [51] and logical gates (see Sect. 4). The plasmod-
ium has been reported as responding to certain wavelengths of light with alterations
in electrical potential waveform; whilst this suggests that light is an ideal coupling
mechanism for an automated computer interface that concurrently interprets plas-
modial bioelectrical phenomena, its electrical responses are quite variable and hence
the usefulness of this approach is limited [52].
If measuring plasmodial behaviour in response to optical input as a form of com-
putational output, the researcher should be aware that many of the commonly used
methods for visualising certain aspects of the system will destabilise it, e.g. exposure
to a powerful fluorescent lamp or laser in an epifluorescence/confocal microscope
will likely have effects on local electrical and contractile systems, even if expo-
sure is only brief. This can be particularly detrimental if studying phenomena such
as streaming velocity or substance uptake (a common situation that is only rarely
compensated for!).
5.3 Tactile
The Physarum plasmodium is sensitive to the application of mechanical pressure and

has been demonstrated to function as a tactile sensor in both human-interpreted and
computer-automated devices [53, 54] and tactile stimulation-induced alterations to
cytoplasm flow rate through tubes have been used as an input in microfluidic logic
gates [55] .
The mechanisms underlying thigmoreception are likely related to stretch-mediated
induction of the calcium oscillator as discussed in Sect. 3.3. Application of gentle
tactile pressure—such as ‘prodding’ a plasmodium with a hair or laying a thin glass
capillary tube across it—causes a repeatable, characteristical spike in membrane
potential which will tend to recede into normal oscillation after 30–40 s; during this
time, the organism appears to enter a refractory phase where it cannot be re-stimulated
to induce the same effect [54]. Repeated or/and high-intensity stimulation on a single
point will cause the organism to migrate away.
Tactile stimulation will cause an area of plasmodium surrounding the point of
stimulation to gelate and cease streaming for a period of time proportional to the
intensity of the stimulus and inversely proportional to the robustness of the point
being stimulated, i.e. a thick tube or fan-shaped margin will only cease streaming
for a short time compared to a thin tube stimulated in the same manner. This can
cause severe difficulties with experimental techniques such as microinjection (see
Sect. 6.4).
5.4 Other Stimulants
Physarum plasmodia have been reported as migrating towards the cathode in the
presence of a DC field (galvanotaxis) and hence this may be used as a Physarum
machine input to guide migration, particularly as plasmodia with previous exposure
will always migrate towards an electrical field [56, 57]. The organism appears to
lack a specific behavioural response when directly electrocuted,3 indeed it seems to
be very tolerant to such abuse, although deleterious health effects occur with higher
voltage/current sources. This tolerance to electrical stimulation has led to the use of
slime mould as discrete circuit elements, such as electrical wires and bandpass filters
[59, 60]. The electrical resistance of a single 10 mm plasmodial tube is approximately
10 M, although this value oscillates by several M as the organism streams.
Following the discussion of light and electrical fields, it is pertinent to note the plas-
modial responses to other forms of radiation. Physarum has recently been described
as magnetotactic, implying that this is yet another mechanism for controlling plas-
modial migration despite the underlying mechanism being unclear [61]. Extremely
low-frequency electromagnetic radiation appears to retard streaming [62].
6 Appendix: Research Methods
6.1 Plasmodium Cultivation
Plasmodia may be cultivated on a wide variety of substrates, but to guarantee rapid

growth and minimise the risk of microbial contamination, the authors favour using
2 % non-nutrient agar gel in 9 cm plastic Petri dishes or unpatterned kitchen towel
moistened with a few millilitres of deionised water in a lidded plastic box. Standard
porridge oats should be provided as the sole nutrient source and propagating colonies
should be kept in the absence of light at room temperature. Subculturing should
be performed every 3–4 days, or when the organism has colonised the majority of
its environment, which can be performed by cutting a section of the plasmodium’s
substrate and transferring it to a new dish or homogenising the organism with a spatula
3 Parenthetically, it is interesting to note that following the studies that pioneered slime mould—and
indeed, human—electrophysiological measurements in the 1950s, researchers were surprised to

note that the organism could not be electrically innervated in the same manner as neurons [58],
although we now know this to result from P. polycephalum’s electrical oscillator being controlled
principally by chemical factors.
18 R. Mayne
or scalpel blade and transferring it to a new environment. Homogenisation does not

appear to significantly alter growth rate as the organism will coalesce within 1–2 h,
although growth rate will be severely reduced if the homogenate contains relatively
few nuclei: as such, homogenates should always be taken from the advancing anterior
margin if growth speed is an important factor.
If working in sterile conditions, various nutrient agar varieties may be used, as
can several types of liquid medium [63], although both will induce plasmodial mor-
phologies that are radically different from the type that is observed in nature. Such
preparation methods are not commonly used in slime mould computing devices as,
aside from the additional complications of maintaining sterility in laboratories that
are not necessarily equipped for microbiology, there has been a general trend of
utilising the organism’s natural form for computing as the wild-type morphology is
presumably better adapted for survival. For this reason, preparation of other plas-
modial derivatives such as thin-spread plasmodia, microplasmodia and spherules are
not discussed here, but further details may be found in Refs. [64–67].
All plasmodia utilised in the experimental studies detailed in this anthology were
strain HU554 × HU560, unless otherwise stated.
6.2 Preparation and Revivification of Sclerotia
Sclerotinization can be initiated by gradually dehydrating a plasmodium in the

absence of other unfavourable environmental factors. The authors’ preference is
to transfer plasmodial homogenate to a moistened filter paper in a vented box. This
process usually takes about two days. Sclerotinization may also be achieved by
dehydrating agar plates (both nutrient and non-nutrient) in fume cupboards, but the
researcher should be aware that this carries a greater risk of microbial contamination,
particularly by fungi.
Reviving sclerotia is extremely simple and is achieved by placing a piece of
sclerotium in a moist, dark environment, such as those detailed in Sect. 6.1. The rate
at which the organism revives is surprisingly rapid.
6.3 Measurement of Membrane Potential
Unless otherwise stated, all electrical measurements performed in this anthology

were standardised to the following entirely non-invasive specifications to allow for
direct comparability. Two 90×10 mm aluminium tape electrodes are stuck to a clear,
non-conductive surface such as a glass microscope slide or the base of a Petri dish.
A 10 mm gap separates the two and each has a 0.25–0.50 ml hemisphere of 2 %
non-nutrient agar prepared at the tip. A plasmodial homogenate or cutting is placed
on one hemisphere and an oat flake on the other. The environment is then sealed
(usually inside a Petri dish bonded with paraffin film) and left in the dark at room
temperature to propagate. Within 12–48 h, the plasmodium propagates across the

gap between the electrodes, forming a single tube between the two: as such, any
subsequent electrical measurements will be from a single 10 mm tube. Depending
on local environmental factors, some optimization of this set-up may be required if
plasmodia fail to propagate; the organism is reluctant to traverse dry surfaces if it
finds its environment unfavourable.
Voltage and resistance measurements are performed with the researcher’s choice
of data logger/multimeter. It should be noted that in such an arrangement, the electri-
cal properties of the organism are being effectively measured through two resistors,
i.e. the agar hemispheres, which were found in Ref. [28] to have an average resistance
of about 20 K. Because of this, certain results (e.g. oscillating potential amplitude)
will be significantly different to other sources who use more conventional electro-
physiological testing procedures.
Intracellular measurements are possible but problematic to implement. This is
because the organism will tend to seal puncture wounds caused by intracellular
electrodes and migrate away rapidly. Consequently, slime mould electrophysiological
measurements should necessarily be ingenious and minimally invasive, such as the
moist chamber method demonstrated historically by Iwamura [68].
6.4 Microinjection
In instances where one is required to load the plasmodium with a substance and
feeding/endocytosis isn’t a viable route, microinjection is a workable alternative. A
relevant example of such an instance is loading the plasmodium with fluorescent
compounds for live-organism microscopy: the dye may have a short half-life, be
metabolised too rapidly or may simply not be endocytosed due to its toxicity.
As aforementioned, plasmodial microinjection is unfortunately problematic. This
is in part due to its propensity to gelate and cease streaming following vessel injury,
but also due to the practical considerations of injecting a very fine-tipped needle
into a comparatively enormous vessel whose internal fluid pressure is constantly
fluctuating. Indeed, major plasmodial tubes are so thick that even when the organism
is cultivated on a sub-1 mm layer of agar overlying a thin glass microscope coverslip
and visualised with an inverted microscope, there is still insufficient depth of field
to adequately view the tube. Automated microinjection systems should be avoided
as the quantities of fluid required to be injected are extremely high compared to the
femtolitre requirements of individual cells.
Microinjection should be performed with a sub-10 µm needle injected at an acute
angle (relative to the direction of cytoplasmic flow). The needle should ideally be
orientated laterally with respect to the tube. Finally, injection should be as rapid as
possible, as gelation will still occur even after taking these precautions [44]. This has
been successfully used to replace the endoplasm with artificial media and introduce
fluorescent calcium dyes into live plasmodia and microplasmodia [32, 69, 70].
20 R. Mayne
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CHAPTER XXIII
NAT JUMPS AT A CONCLUSION
All this time Tavia and Nat were having anything but a happy life.
Nat would not have admitted it for the world, but he wished he could
leave home and never appear at The Cedars again until Tavia had
gone.
On her part, Tavia would have returned to Dalton before the new
year had Dorothy allowed her to have her own way. Dorothy would
not hear of such a thing.
To make the situation worse for the pair of young people so
tragically enduring their first vital misunderstanding, Ned and Jennie
Hapgood were sailing upon a sea of blissful and unruffled happiness.
Nat and Tavia could not help noting this fact. The feeling of the
exalted couple for each other was so evident that even the Dale
boys discussed it—and naturally with deep disgust.
“Gee!” breathed Joe, scandalized. “Old Ned is so mushy over
Jennie Hapgood that he goes around in a trance. He could tread on
his own corns and not know it, his head is so far up in the clouds.
Gee!”
“I wouldn’t ever get so silly over a girl—not even our Dorothy,”
Roger declared. “Would you, Joe?”
“Not in a hundred years,” was his brother’s earnest response.
The major admitted with a chuckle that Ned certainly was hard hit.
The time set for Jennie Hapgood to return to Sunnyside Farm came
and passed, and still many reasons were found for the prolongation
of her visit. Ned went off to New York one day by himself and
brought home at night something that made a prominent bulge in his
lower right-hand vest pocket.
“Oh, oh, OH! Dorothy!” ejaculated Tavia, for the moment coming
out of her own doldrums. “Do you know what it is? A Tiffany box!
Nothing less!”
“Dear old Ned,” said her chum, with a smile.
Ned and Jennie disappeared together right after dinner. Then, an
hour later, they appeared in the drawing-room where the family was
assembled and Ned led Jennie forward by her left hand—the fingers
prominently extended.
“White gold—platinum!” murmured Tavia, standing enthralled as
she beheld the beautifully set stone.
“Set old Ned back five hundred bucks if it did a cent,” growled Nat,
under his breath and keeping in the background.
“Oh, Jennie!” cried Dorothy, jumping up.
But Aunt Winnie seemed to be nearest. She reached the happy
couple before anybody else.
“Ned needn’t tell me,” she said, with a little laugh and a little sob
and putting both arms about Jennie. “Welcome, my daughter! Very
welcome to the White family. I have for years tried to divide Dorothy
with the major; now I am to have at least one daughter of my very
own.”
Did she flash a glance at Tavia standing in the background? Tavia
thought so. The proud and headstrong girl was shot to the quick with
the arrow of the thought that Mrs. White had been told by Nat of the
difference between himself and Tavia and that the lady would never
come to Tavia and ask that question on behalf of her younger son
that the girl so desired her to ask.
Never before had Tavia realized so keenly the great chasm
between herself and Jennie Hapgood. Mrs. White welcomed Jennie
so warmly, and was so glad, because Jennie was of the same level
in society as the Whites. Both in blood and wealth Jennie was Ned’s
equal.
Tavia knew very well that by explaining to Nat about Lance
Petterby’s letters she could easily bring that young man to his knees.
In her heart, in the very fiber of the girl’s being, indeed, had grown
the desire to have Dorothy Dale’s Aunt Winnie tell her that she, too,
would be welcome in the White family. Now Tavia doubted if Aunt
Winnie would ever do that.
Jennie was to go home to Sunnyside Farm the next day. This final
decision had probably spurred Ned to action. Because of certain
business matters in town which occupied both Ned and Nat at train
time and the fact that Dorothy was busy with some domestic duty, it
was Tavia who drove the Fire Bird, the Whites’ old car, to the station
with Jennie Hapgood.
A train from the West had come in a few minutes before the
westbound one which Jennie was to take was due. Tavia, sitting in
the car while Jennie ran to get her checks, saw a tall man carrying
two heavy suitcases and wearing a broad-brimmed hat walking down
the platform.
“Why! if that doesn’t look——Surely it can’t be—I—I believe I’ve
got ’em again!” murmured Tavia Travers.
Then suddenly she shot out from behind the wheel, leaped to the
platform, and ran straight for the tall figure.
“Garry Knapp!” she exploded.
“Why—why—Miss Travers!” responded the big young man,
smiling suddenly and that “cute” little dimple just showing in his
bronzed cheek. “You don’t mean to say you live in this man’s town?”
He looked about the station in a puzzled way, and, having dropped
his bags to shake hands with her, rubbed the side of his head as
though to awaken his understanding.
“I don’t understand your being here, Miss Travers,” he murmured.
“Why, I’m visiting here,” she said, blithely. “But you——?”
“I—I’m here on business. Or I think I am,” he said soberly. “How’s
your—Miss Dale! She doesn’t live here, does she?”
“Of course. Didn’t you know?” demanded Tavia, eyeing him
curiously.
“No. Who—what’s this Major Dale to her, Miss Travers?” asked the
young man and his heavy brows met for an instant over his nose.
“Her father, of course, Mr. Knapp. Didn’t you know Dorothy’s father
was the only Major Dale there is, and the nicest man there ever
was?”
“How should I know?” demanded Garry Knapp, contemplating
Tavia with continued seriousness. “What is he—a real estate man?”
“Why! didn’t you know?” Tavia asked, thinking quickly. “Didn’t I tell
you that time that he was a close friend of Colonel Hardin, who
owned that estate you told me joined your ranch there by Desert
City?”
“Uh-huh,” grunted the young man. “Seems to me you did tell me
something about that. But I—I must have had my mind on something
else.”
“On somebody else, you mean,” said Tavia, dimpling suddenly.
“Well! Colonel Hardin left his place to Major Dale.”
“Oh! that’s why, then. He wants to buy my holdings because his
land joins mine,” said Garry Knapp, reflectively.
Tavia had her suspicions of the truth well aroused; but all she
replied was:
“I shouldn’t wonder, Mr. Knapp.”
“I got a good offer—leastways, better than those sharks, Stiffbold
and Lightly, would make me after they’d seen the ranch—from some
lawyers out there. They planked down a thousand for an option, and
told me to come East and close the deal with this Major Dale. And it
never entered into this stupid head of mine that he was related to—
to Miss Dale.”
“Isn’t that funny?” giggled Tavia. Then, as Jennie appeared from
the baggage room and the westbound train whistled for the station,
she added: “Just wait for me until I see a friend off on this train, Mr.
Knapp, and I’ll drive you out.”
“Drive me out where?” asked Garry Knapp.
“To see—er—Major Dale,” she returned, and ran away.
When the train had gone she found the Westerner standing
between his two heavy bags about where she had left him.
“Those old suitcases look so natural,” she said, laughing at his
serious face. “Throw them into the tonneau and sit beside me in
front. I’ll show you some driving.”
“But look here! I can’t do this,” he objected.
“You cannot do what?” demanded Tavia.
“Are you staying with Miss Dale?”
“Of course I am staying with Doro. I don’t know but I am more at
home at The Cedars than I am at the Travers domicile in Dalton.”
“But wait!” he begged. “There must be a hotel here?”
“In North Birchland? Of course.”
“You’d better take me there, Miss Travers, if you’ll be so kind. I
want to secure a room.”
“Nothing doing! You’ve got to come out to The Cedars with me,”
Tavia declared. “Why, Do—I mean, of course, Major Dale would
never forgive me if I failed to bring you, baggage and all. His friends
do not stop at the North Birchland House I’d have you know.”
“But, honestly, Miss Travers, I don’t like it. I don’t understand it.
And Major Dale isn’t my friend.”
“Oh, isn’t he? You just wait and see!” cried Tavia. “I didn’t know
about your coming East. Of course, if it is business——”
“That is it, exactly,” the young man said, nervously. “I—I couldn’t
impose upon these people, you know.”
“Say! you want to sell your land, don’t you?” demanded Tavia.
“Ye—es,” admitted Garry Knapp, slowly.
“Well, if a man came out your way to settle a business matter, you
wouldn’t let him go to a hotel, would you? You’d be angry,” said
Tavia, sensibly, “if he insisted upon doing such a thing. Major Dale
could not have been informed when you would arrive, or he would
have had somebody here at the station to meet you.”
“No. I didn’t tell the lawyers when I’d start,” said Garry.
“Don’t make a bad matter worse then,” laughed Tavia, her eyes
twinkling as she climbed in and sat back of the wheel. “Hurry up. If
you want to sell your land you’d better waste no more time getting
out to The Cedars.”
The Westerner got into the car in evident doubt. He suspected that
he had been called East for something besides closing a real estate
transaction. Tavia suspected so, too; and she was vastly amused.
She drove slowly, for Garry began asking her for full particulars
about Dorothy and the family. Tavia actually did not know anything
about the proposed purchase of the Knapp ranch by her chum’s
father. Dorothy had said not a word to her about Garry since their
final talk some weeks before.
At a place in the woods where there was not a house in sight,
Tavia even stopped the car the better to give her full attention to Mr.
Garry Knapp, and to talk him out of certain objections that seemed to
trouble his mind.
It was just here that Nat White, on a sputtering motorcycle he
sometimes rode, passed the couple in the automobile. He saw Tavia
talking earnestly to a fine-looking, broad-shouldered young man
wearing a hat of Western style. She had an eager hand upon his
shoulder and the stranger was evidently much interested in what the
girl said.
Nat did not even slow down. It is doubtful if Tavia noticed him at
all. Nat went straight home, changed his clothes, flung a few things
into a traveling bag, and announced to his mother that he was off for
Boston to pay some long-promised visits to friends there and in
Cambridge.
Nat, with his usual impulsiveness, had jumped at a conclusion
which, like most snap judgments, was quite incorrect. He rode to the
railroad station by another way and so did not meet Tavia and Garry
Knapp as they approached The Cedars.
CHAPTER XXIV
THIN ICE
Dorothy spied the Fire Bird just as it turned in at the entrance gate.
And she identified the person sitting beside her chum, too.
Therefore, she had a few minutes in which to prepare for her
meeting with Garry Knapp.
She was on the porch when the car stopped, and her welcome to
the young Westerner possessed just the degree of cordiality that it
should. Neither by word nor look did she betray the fact that her
heart’s action was accelerated, or that she felt a thrill of joy to think
that the first of her moves in this intricate game had been successful.
“Of course, it would be Tavia’s good fortune to pick you up at the
station,” she said, while Garry held her hand just a moment longer
than was really necessary for politeness’ sake. “Had you telegraphed
us——”
“I hadn’t a thought that I was going to run up against Miss Travers
or you, Miss Dale,” he said.
“Oh, then, this is a business visit?” and she laughed. “Entirely?
You only wish to see Major Dale?”
“Well—now—that’s unfair,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “But I told
Miss Travers she might drive me to the hotel.”
“Oh, this will be your hotel while you remain, of course. Father
would not hear of anything else I am sure.”
“I can thank you, then, Miss Dale,” he said quietly and with a
sudden serious mien, “for the chance to sell my ranch at a better
price than those sharks were ready to give?”
“No. You may thank Major Dale’s bump of acquisitiveness,” she
said, laughing at him over her shoulder as she led the way into the
house. “Having so much land already out there, like other great
property owners, he is always looking for more.”
If Garry Knapp was not assured that she was entirely frank upon
this matter, he knew that his welcome was as warm as though he
were really an old friend. He met Mrs. White almost at once, and
Dorothy was delighted by her marked approval of him.
Garry Knapp got to the major by slow degrees. Tavia marveled as
she watched Dorothy Dale’s calm and assured methods. This was
the demure, cautious girl whom she had always looked upon as
being quite helpless when it came to managing “affairs” with
members of the opposite sex. Tavia imagined she was quite able to
manage any man—“put him in his place,” she termed it—much
better than Dorothy Dale. But now!
Dorothy quietly sent Joe and Roger out for Mr. Knapp’s bags and
told them to take the bags up to an indicated room. She made no
fuss about it, but took it for granted that Garry Knapp had come for a
visit, not for a call.
The young man from the West had to sit down and talk with Aunt
Winnie. That lady proceeded in her good-humored and tactful way to
draw him out. Aunt Winnie learned more about Garry Knapp in those
few minutes than even Tavia had learned when she took dinner with
the young man. And all the time the watchful Dorothy saw Garry
Knapp growing in her aunt’s estimation.
Ned came in. He had been fussing and fuming because business
had kept him from personally seeing Jennie Hapgood aboard her
train. He welcomed this big fellow from the West, perhaps, because
he helped take Ned’s mind off his own affairs.
“Come on up and dress for dinner,” Ned suggested, having gained
Garry Knapp’s sole attention. “It’s pretty near time for the big eats,
and mother is a stickler for the best bib and tucker at the evening
meal.”
“Great Scott!” gasped Garry Knapp in a panic. “You don’t mean
dinner dress? I haven’t had on a swallowtail since I was in college.”
“Tuxedo will do,” Ned said lightly. “If you didn’t bring ’em I’ll lend
you. I’m about as broad as you, my boy.”
Garry Knapp was three or four years older than Ned, and that “my
boy” sounded rather funny. However, the Westerner did not smile.
He accepted the loan of the dinner coat and the vest without
comment, but he looked very serious while he was dressing.
They went down together to meet the girls in the drawing-room.
Dorothy Dale and Tavia had dressed especially for the occasion.
Tavia flaunted her fine feathers frankly; but demure Dorothy’s eyes
shone more gloriously than her frock. Ned said:
“You look scrumptious, Coz. And, of course, Tavia, you are a
vision of delight. Where’s Nat?”
“Nat?” questioned Tavia, her countenance falling. “Is—isn’t he
upstairs?”
“Why, don’t you know?” Dorothy cried. “He’s gone to Boston. Left
just before you came back from the station, Tavia.”
“Well, of all things!” Ned said. “I’d have gone with him if I’d really
believed he meant it. Old grouch! He’s been talking of lighting out for
a week. But I am glad,” he added cordially, looking at Garry Knapp,
“that I did not go. Then I, too, might have missed meeting Mr.
Knapp.”
Now, what was it kept Major Dale away from the dinner table that
evening? His excuse was that a twinge or two of rheumatism kept
him from appearing with the family when dinner was called. And yet
Dorothy did not appear worried by her father’s absence as she
ordinarily would have been. Tavia was secretly delighted by this
added manifestation of Dorothy’s finesse. Garry Knapp could not find
any excuse for withdrawing from the house until he had interviewed
the major.
As was usual at The Cedars, the evening meal was a lively and
enjoyable occasion. Tavia successfully hid her chagrin at Nat’s
absence; but Joe and Roger were this evening the life of the
company.
“The river’s frozen,” sang Roger, “and we’re going skating on it,
Joe and I. Did you ever go skating, Mr. Knapp?” for Roger believed it
only common politeness to bring the visitor into the conversation.
“Sure enough,” laughed Garry Knapp. “I used to be some skater,
too.”
“You’d better come,” said Roger. “It’s going to be moonlight—
Popeye Jordan says so, and he knows, for his father lights the street
lamps and this is one of the nights he doesn’t have to work.”
“I hope Popeye hasn’t made a mistake—or Mr. Jordan, either—in
reading the almanac,” Dorothy said, when the laugh had subsided.
“You’d better come, too, Dorothy,” said Joe. “The river’s as smooth
as glass.”
“Let’s all go,” proposed Tavia, glad to be in anything active that
would occupy her mind and perhaps would push out certain
unpleasant thoughts that lodged there.
“Mr. Knapp has no skates,” said Dorothy, softly.
“Don’t let that stop you,” the Westerner put in, smiling. “I can go
and look on.”
“Oh, I guess we can give you a look in,” said Ned. “There’s Nat’s
skates. I think he didn’t take ’em with him.”
“Will they fit Mr. Knapp?” asked Tavia.
“Dead sure that nobody’s got a bigger foot than old Nat,” said his
brother wickedly. “If Mr. Knapp can get into my coat, he’ll find no
trouble in getting into Nat’s shoes.”
Ned rather prided himself on his own small and slim foot and often
took a fling at the size of his brother’s shoes. But now, Nat not being
present, he hoped to “get a rise” out of Tavia. The girl, however, bit
her lip and said nothing. She was not even defending Nat these
days.
It was concluded that all should go—that is, all the young people
then present. Nat and Jennie’s absence made what Ned called “a
big hole” in the company.
“You be good to me, Dot,” he said to his cousin, as they waited in
the side hall for Tavia to come down. “I’m going to miss Jennie
awfully. I want to skate with you and tell you all about it.”
“All about what?” demanded his cousin, laughing.
“Why, all about how we came to—to—to find out we cared for
each other,” Ned whispered, blunderingly enough but very earnest.
“You know, Dot, it’s just wonderful——”
“You go on, dear,” said Dorothy, poking a gloved forefinger at him.
“If you two sillies didn’t know you were in love with each other till you
brought home the ring the other night, why everybody else in the
neighborhood was aware of the fact æons and æons ago!”
“Huh?” grunted Ned, his eyes blinking in surprise.
“It was the most transparent thing in the world. Everybody around
here saw how the wind blew.”
“You don’t mean it!” said the really astonished Ned. “Well! and I
didn’t know it myself till I began to think how bad a time I was going
to have without Jennie. I wish old Nat would play up to Tavia.”
Dorothy looked at him scornfully. “Well! of all the stupid people
who ever lived, most men are it,” she thought. But what she said
aloud was:
“I want to skate with Mr. Knapp, Nedward. You know he is our
guest. You take Tavia.”
“Pshaw!” muttered her cousin as the girl in question appeared and
Garry Knapp and the boys came in from the porch where the
Westerner had been trying on Nat’s skating boots. “I can’t talk to the
flyaway as I can to you. But I don’t blame you for wanting to skate
with Knapp. He seems like a mighty fine fellow.”
Dorothy was getting the family’s opinion, one by one, of the man
Tavia wickedly whispered Dorothy had “set her cap” for. The younger
boys were plainly delighted with Garry Knapp. When the party got to
the river Joe and Roger would scarcely let the guest and Dorothy get
away by themselves.
Garry Knapp skated somewhat awkwardly at first, for he had not
been on the ice for several years. But he was very sure footed and it
was evident utterly unafraid.
He soon “got the hang of it,” as he said, and was then ready to
skate away with Dorothy. The Dale boys tried to keep up; but with
one of his smiles into the girl’s face, Knapp suddenly all but picked
her up and carried her off at a great pace over the shining, black ice.
“Oh! you take my breath!” she cried half aloud, yet clinging with
delight to his arm.
“We’ll dodge the little scamps and then get down to talk,” he said.
“I want to know all about it.”
“All about what?” she returned, looking at him with shy eyes and a
fluttering at her heart that she was glad he could not know about.
“About this game of getting me East again. I can see your fine
Italian hand in this, Miss Dale. Does your father really need my
land?”
He said it bluntly, and although he smiled, Dorothy realized there
was something quite serious behind his questioning.
“Well, you see, after you had left the hotel in New York, Tavia and I
overheard those two awful men you agreed to sell to talking about
the bargain,” she said rather stumblingly, but with earnestness.
“You did!” he exclaimed. “The sharks!”
“That is exactly what they were. They said after Stiffbold got out
West he would try to beat you down in your price, although at the
terms agreed upon he knew he was getting a bargain.”
“Oh-ho!” murmured Garry Knapp. “That’s the way of it, eh? They
had me scared all right. I gave them an option for thirty days for a
hundred dollars and they let the option run out. I was about to accept
a lower price when your father’s lawyers came around.”
“You see, Tavia and I were both interested,” Dorothy explained.
“And Tavia wrote to a friend of ours, Lance Petterby——”
IT SEEMED TO DOROTHY THAT THEY FAIRLY FLEW OVER THE
OPEN WATER.
Dorothy Dale’s Engagement Page 198
“Ah! that’s why old Lance came riding over to Bob Douglass’
place, was it?” murmured Garry.
“Then,” said Dorothy, bravely, “I mentioned the matter to father,
and he is always willing to buy property adjoining the Hardin place.
Thinks it is a good investment. He and Aunt Winnie, too, have a high
opinion of that section of the country. They believe it is the coming
wheat-growing land of the States.”
Garry’s mind seemed not to be absorbed by this phase of the
subject. He said abruptly:
“Your folks are mighty rich, Miss Dale, aren’t they?”
Dorothy started at this blunt and unusual question, but, after a
moment’s hesitation, decided to answer as frankly as the question
had been put.
“Oh! Aunt Winnie married a wealthy man—yes,” she said.
“Professor Winthrop White. But we were very poor, indeed, until a
few years ago when a distant relative left the major some property.
Then, of course, this Hardin estate is a big thing.”
“Yes,” said Garry, shortly. “And you are going to be wealthy in your
own right when you are of age. So your little friend told me.”
“Yes,” sighed Dorothy. “Tavia will talk. The same relative who left
father his first legacy, tied up some thousands for poor little me.”
Immediately Garry Knapp talked of other things. The night was
fine and the moon, a silver paring, hung low above the hills. The
stars were so bright that they were reflected in the black ice under
the skaters’ ringing steel.
Garry and Dorothy had shot away from the others and were now
well down the river toward the milldam. So perfectly had the ice
frozen that when they turned the blades of the skates left long,
soaplike shavings behind them.
With clasped hands, they took the stroke together perfectly. Never
had Dorothy skated with a partner that suited her so well. Nor had
she ever sped more swiftly over the ice.
Suddenly, she felt Garry’s muscles stiffen and saw his head jerk
up as he stared ahead.
“What is it?” she murmured, her own eyes so misty that she could
not see clearly. Then in a moment she uttered a frightened “Oh!”
They had crossed the river, and now, on coming back, there
unexpectedly appeared a long, open space before them. The water
was so still that at a distance the treacherous spot looked just like
the surrounding ice.
The discovery was made too late for them to stop. Indeed, Garry
Knapp increased his speed, picked her up in his arms and it seemed
to Dorothy that they fairly flew over the open water, landing with a
resonant ring of steel upon the safe ice beyond.
For the moment that she was held tightly in the young man’s arms,
she clung to him with something besides fear.
“Oh, Garry!” she gasped when he set her down again.
“Some jump, eh?” returned the young man coolly.
They skated on again without another word.
CHAPTER XXV
GARRY BALKS
The major was ready to see Garry Knapp at nine o’clock the next
morning. He was suffering one of his engagements with the enemy
rheumatism, and there really was a strong reason for his having put
off this interview until the shy Westerner had become somewhat
settled at The Cedars as a guest.
Dorothy took Garry up to the major’s room after breakfast, and
they found him well-wrapped in a rug, sitting in his sun parlor which
overlooked the lawns of The Cedars.
The young man from the West could not help being impressed by
the fact that he was the guest of a family that was well supplied with
this world’s goods—one that was used to luxury as well as comfort.
Is it strange that the most impressive point to him was the fact that
he had no right to even think of trying to win Dorothy Dale?
When he had awakened that morning and looked over the
luxurious furnishings of his chamber and the bathroom and dressing
room connected with it, he had told himself:
“Garford Knapp, you are in wrong! This is no place for a
cowpuncher from the Western plains. What little tad of money you
can sell your ranch for won’t put you in any such class as these folk
belong to.
“And as for thinking of that girl—Great Scot! I’d make a fine figure
asking any girl used to such luxury as this to come out and share a
shack in Desert City or thereabout, while I punched cattle, or went to
keeping store, or tried to match my wits in real estate with the sharks
that exploit land out there.
“Forget it, Garford!” he advised himself, grimly. “If you can make
an honest deal with this old major, make it and then clear out. This is
no place for you.”
He had, therefore, braced himself for the interview. The major,
eyeing him keenly as he walked down the long room beside Dorothy,
made his own judgment—as he always did—instantly. When Dorothy
had gone he said frankly to the young man:
“Mr. Knapp, I’m glad to see you. I have heard so much about you
that I feel you and I are already friends.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Garry, quietly, eyeing the major with as much
interest as the latter eyed him.
“When my daughter was talking one day about you and the land
you had in the market adjoining the Hardin tract it struck me that
perhaps it would be a good thing to buy,” went on the major, briskly.
“So I set our lawyers on your trail.”
“So Miss Dorothy tells me, sir,” the young man said.
“Now, they know all about the offer made you by those sharpers,
Stiffbold & Lightly. They advised me to risk a thousand dollar option
on your ranch and I telegraphed them to make you the offer.”
“And you may believe I was struck all of a heap, sir,” said the
young man, still eyeing the major closely. “I’ll tell you something:
You’ve got me guessing.”
“How’s that?” asked the amused Major Dale.
“Why, people don’t come around and hand me a thousand dollars
every day—and just on a gamble.”
“Sure I am gambling?” responded the major.
“I’m not sure of anything,” admitted Garry Knapp. “But it looks like
that. I accepted the certified check—I have it with me. I don’t know
but I’d better hand it back to you, Major, for I think you have been
misinformed about the real value of the ranch. The price per acre
your lawyers offer is away above the market.”
“Hey!” exclaimed Major Dale. “You call yourself a business man?”
“Not much of one, I suppose,” said Garry. “I’ll sell you my ranch
quick enough at a fair price. But this looks as if you were doing me a
favor. I think you have been influenced.”
“Eh?” stammered the astounded old gentleman.
“By your daughter,” said Garry, quietly. “I’m conceited enough to
think it is because of Miss Dale that you make me the offer you do.”
“Any crime in that?” demanded the major.
“No crime exactly,” rejoined Garry with one of his rare smiles,
“unless I take advantage of it. But I’m not the sort of fellow, Major
Dale, who can willingly accept more than I can give value for. Your
offer for my ranch is beyond reason.”
“Would you have thought so if another man—somebody instead of
my daughter’s father——” and his eyes twinkled as he said it, “had
made you the offer?”
Garry Knapp was silent and showed confusion. The major went on
with some grimness of expression:
“But if your conscience troubles you and you wish to call the deal
off, now is your chance to return the check.”
Instantly Garry pulled his wallet from his pocket and produced the
folded green slip, good for a thousand dollars at the Desert City Trust
Company.
“There you are, sir,” he said quietly, and laid the paper upon the
arm of the major’s chair.
The old gentleman picked it up, identified it, and slowly tore the
check into strips, eyeing the young man meanwhile.
“Then,” he said, calmly, “that phase of the matter is closed. But
you still wish to sell your ranch?”
“I do, Major Dale. But I can’t accept what anybody out there would
tell you was a price out of all reason.”
“Except my lawyers,” suggested the major.
“Well——”
“Young man, you have done a very foolish thing,” said Major Dale.
“A ridiculous thing, perhaps. Unless you are shrewder than you
seem. My lawyers have had your land thoroughly cruised. You have
the best wheat land, in embryo, anywhere in the Desert City region.”
Garry started and stared at him for a minute without speaking.
Then he sighed and shrugged his shoulders.
“That may be, sir. Perhaps you do know more about the intrinsic
value of my ranch than I do myself. But I know it would cost a mint of
money to develop that old rundown place into wheat soil.”
“Humph! and if you had this—er—mint of money, what would you
do?”
“Do? I’d develop it myself!” cried the young man, startled into
enthusiastic speech. “I know there is a fortune there. You are making
big profits on the Hardin place already, I understand. Cattle have
gone out; but wheat has come to stay. Oh, I know all about that! But
what’s the use?”
“Have you tried to raise money for the development of your land?”
asked the major quietly.
“I’ve talked to some bankers, yes. Nothing doing. The machinery
and fertilizer cost at the first would be prohibitive. A couple of crop
failures would wipe out everything, and the banks don’t want land on
their hands. As for the money-lenders—well, Major Dale, you can
imagine what sort of hold they demand when they deal with a person
in my situation.”
“And you would rather have what seems to you a fair price for your
land and get it off your hands?”
“I’ll accept a fair price—yes. But I can’t accept any favors,” said the
young man, his face gloomy enough but as stubborn as ever.
“I see,” said the major. “Then what will you do with the money you
get?”
“Try to get into some business that will make me more,” and Garry
looked up again with a sudden smile.
“Raising wheat does not attract you, then?”
“It’s the biggest prospect in that section. I know it has cattle raising
and even mining backed clear across the board. But it’s no game for
a little man with little capital.”
“Then why not get into it?” asked Major Dale, still speaking quietly.
“You seem enthusiastic. Enthusiasm and youth—why, my boy, they
will carry a fellow far!”
Garry looked at him in a rather puzzled way. “But don’t I tell you,
Major Dale, that the banks will not let me have money?”
“I’ll let you have the money—and at a fair interest,” said Major
Dale.
Garry smiled slowly and put out his hand. The major quickly took it
and his countenance began to brighten. But what Garry said caused
the old gentleman’s expression to become suddenly doleful:
“I can’t accept your offer, sir. I know that it is a favor—a favor that
is suggested by Miss Dorothy. If it were not for her, you would never
have thought of sending for me or making either of these more than
kind propositions you have made.
“I shall have to say no—and thank you.”

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Advances in Physarum Machines

Sensing and Computing with Slime

Compressive Sensing in Healthcare (Advances in

Advances in passive microwave remote sensing of oceans

Advances in Soft and Hard Computing Jerzy Peja■

Advances in Motivation Science, Volume 3 1st Edition

Smart Biosensors in Medical Care (Advances in

Advances in Soft Computing and Machine Learning in

Reading Modernism with Machines: Digital Humanities and

Advances in Mathematical Methods and High Performance

Andrew Adamatzky Editor

The Emergence, Complexity and Computation (ECC) series publishes new

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10624

ISSN 2194-7287 ISSN 2194-7295 (electronic)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015954974

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

Printed on acid-free paper

This Springer imprint is published by SpringerNature

Bristol Andrew Adamatzky

A Chemomodulatory Platform for Physarum polycephalum

Multi-agent Slime Mould Computing: Mechanisms, Applications

Part III Music and Art

The Creeping Garden: Articulating the Science of Slime Mould

Abstract Slime mould Physarum polycephalum is a macroscopic amoeba-like

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 3

understanding of biological processes which we have undergone some 3 billion years

2 Taxonomy, Morphology, Habitat and Life Cycle

Fig. 2 Photograph of the Physarum plasmodium growing in 9 cm Petri dishes. a On non-nutrient

medium is liquid, a flagellated version of the myxamoeba known as a swarm cell.

3 Cell Biology and Physiology

The name ‘Physarum polycephalum’ is often mis-translated, which is unfortunate as

3.3 Bioelectrical Characteristics and Chemical Oscillators

Fig. 6 Transmission electron micrographs of 80 nm ultrathin transverse sections through a plas-

4 Plasmodial Incorporation of Exogenous Materials

Fig. 7 Correlative light microscopy and electrophysiological measurement of a plasmodial tube.

5 Programming the Plasmodium: Attractants

To program a Physarum machine we must deliver it ‘information’ in a format that it

As previously discussed, a number of slime mould computing devices fabricated to

The Physarum plasmodium is sensitive to the application of mechanical pressure and

5.4 Other Stimulants

6 Appendix: Research Methods

6.1 Plasmodium Cultivation

Plasmodia may be cultivated on a wide variety of substrates, but to guarantee rapid

indeed, human—electrophysiological measurements in the 1950s, researchers were surprised to

or scalpel blade and transferring it to a new environment. Homogenisation does not

6.2 Preparation and Revivification of Sclerotia

Sclerotinization can be initiated by gradually dehydrating a plasmodium in the

6.3 Measurement of Membrane Potential

Unless otherwise stated, all electrical measurements performed in this anthology

temperature to propagate. Within 12–48 h, the plasmodium propagates across the

1. Adamatzky, A.: Die Naturwissenschaften 94(12), 975 (2007). doi:10.1007/s00114-007-0276-

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