CRYPTOGAMS 



391 



common Mould Fungi, Aspergillus (Eurotium), herbariorum and Penicillium 

 crustaceum. Both multiply extensively by means of conidia before they begin to 

 form perithecia. 



In the case of Aspergillus herbariorum, the conidia are abstricted in chains from 

 a number of sterigmata arranged radially on the spherical, swollen ends of the 

 conidiophores (Fig. 330). The conidiophores are closely crowded together, and 



constitute a white mould, afterwards turning to 

 a blue-green, frequently found on damp vege- 

 tables, fruit, bread, etc. Some species of Asper- 

 <l ill us are pathogenic in man and other mammals ; 

 thus A. fumigatus causes mycosis of the external 

 ear, the throat, and the lungs. 



In Penicillium crustaceum, another wide- 

 spread blue-green mould, the erect conidiophores 

 (Fig. 330) are verticillately branched. The 

 spherical perithecia of Aspergillus and Penicil- 

 lium are produced later on the mycelium, but 

 only rarely occur in the latter genus. Their struc- 

 ture is more complicated than in the Erysipheae. 

 They originate as a spirally wound carpogonium 



Fia. 329. Unciiiula necutoi: A, Conidial 

 stage ; c, coni<lium ; h, conidiophore. B, 

 Hypha which has formed ;i disc of attach- 

 ment (a) and has sent a haustoriuni (h) into 

 an epidermal cell. C, Perithecium with 

 appendages. (From SORAUER, LINDAU, 

 and REH. llani.lt>. cl. 2'flanzenl.rankheUfn, 

 ii. p. 194. lHOti.) 



Fro. 330. Conidiophores of AsjiergUlus Jierlnirivrum (to the 

 left) and Penicillium cruxtaeeum (to the right.) 



which after fertilisation becomes surrounded by lateral branches of the mycelium. 

 The ascogenotis hypha branches, penetrating the pseudo-parenchymatous tissue 

 within the perithecium, and bears numerous round asci containing eight spores. 

 The walls of the asci ajid the surrounding pseudo-parenchyma disappear in the 

 ripe fructification which opens irregularly by the rupture of the peripheral layer. 



Order 2. Discomycetes ( 48 - ea ) 



The Discomycetes are distinguished from the other orders by their open 

 apothecia, which bear the hymenium, consisting of asci and paraphyses, freely 



