OUR COMMON MOULDS. 



47 



In Fig. 9 is given a mould which makes its home on decaying herb- 

 age, and is found to perfection in old waste-heaps where weeds and 

 other green matter have been deposited. So common is it, that a cult- 

 ure is more a matter of convenience than necessity. The fruit-stalks 

 are upright, considerably branched at the top, with the spores borne 

 in bunches at the ends of the filament. At a is a much enlarged view 

 of one of these naked heads of spores, and another where the spores 

 have mostly fallen away. As the fruit-stalks grow old they break 

 down in every way, giving the appearance of a forest over which a 

 tempest has passed. 



Of the black moulds Fig. 10 shows a common and very simple rep- 

 resentation. It grew as a sooty coating on a culture made of sliced 

 raw potatoes. It is so very simple that any space taken for descrip- 

 tion seems unnecessary. The black spores are nothing more than por- 

 tions of single or branched filaments cut off in a very regular manner. 



Fig. 10. 



Fig 11. 



In Fig. 11 is given the general structure of a large number of re- 

 lated moulds which grow wdierever they can get a foothold. The 

 drawing was made from one found on some turnip-roots left upon the 

 ground over winter. Like many others, it forms an olive-brown, vel- 

 vety coating of considerable thickness ; and, because of their low 

 habits and inobtrusive nature, they pass readily for dirt or decay, and 

 are seldom noticed. They are the lowly forms which some of the 

 highest of the fungi assume in passing through one stage of their 

 polymorphic existence. 



A score of other species of moulds deserve mention here which are 

 found on various substances either forced under the bell-jar, or grow- 

 ing naturally ; but we know how unattractive such descriptions would 

 be without accompanying figures, and therefore pass them by. 



