MUCEDINES. 



[ 441 ] 



MUCOR. 



simple, solitary, sporiferous head ; spores 

 simple. 



XXV. AcTiNOCLADiUM. Pedicels erect, 

 septate, umbellately branched at the sum- 

 mit ; spores simple, accumulated at the tips 

 of the branches. 



XXVI. BoTRYospoRiUM. Pcdiccls crcct, 

 septate, with short needle-shaped branchlets 

 above ; branches spirallj- placed, articularly 

 joined to papillae, bearinoj at the tips five 

 sporiferous points, and quaternate or quinate 

 heads of spores, resembling an elongated 

 and dense raceme ; spores heaped together 

 regularly in globules. 



** Spores septate. 



XXVII. Arthrobotrys. Pedicels sim- 

 ple, septate, nodular; nodules glomerulife- 

 rous, warty ; warts spirally arranged, sus- 

 taining spores at first solitary, afterwards 

 crowded into glomerules. Spores didymous. 



D. Fertile filaments conjoined into a com- 

 pound pedicel. 



XXVIII. Stysanus. Pedicel compound, 

 fibrous or fleshy-cellular, erect, thickened 

 at the summit, bearing a hemispherical or 

 cylindi'ical warty capitulum ; spores in sim- 

 ple strings attached singly to the sides of 

 the capitulum (to the tips of the fibres com- 

 posing the pedicel). 



XXIX. CoREMiUM. Pedicel compound, 

 erect, composed of a number of parallel 

 conjoined branching filaments, forming a 

 penicillate head at the summit; filaments 

 septate, the fertile verticillately branched, 

 mixed with sterile simple ones. 



[Excluded genera : — Briarea = Monilia ; 

 Clonostachys = Botrytis (vera) ; Polyactis 

 ^ Botrytis [vulgaris) ; Peronospora := Bo- 

 trytis ; Cladobotryum = Dactylium.'\ 



MUCOR, Micheli. — A genus of Mucorini 

 (Physomycetous Fungi), forming the com- 

 mon moulds of paste, decaying fruits or 

 other vegetable matters. The general cha- 

 racter is that of an interwoven mass of hori- 

 zontal branched filaments, sending down 

 little root-like ramules and pushing up erect 

 fertile filaments (not septate), which branch 

 at the base in a stoloniferous manner, and 

 thus form loosely grouped tufts. At the 

 summit of the erect filaments, a globular 

 vesicle is formed, which soon becomes cut 

 off by a septum. Its contents become divided 

 by segmentation in a large number of spores, 

 and the septum at the base becomes mean- 

 while pushed up or protruded into the centre 



of the vesicle so as to form a kind of " core," 

 called the columella. After a time the vesicle 

 (peridiole) bursts and discharges its spores; 

 the pressure of the turgid columella appa- 

 rently hastens the bursting. The dehiscence 

 takes place either by a circular slit just above 

 the base of the columella, leaving this alone, 

 surroundedby a narrow ragged collar(illMcor), 



Fig. 500. 



Fig. 501. 



Rlucor Mucedo. 

 (Ascophora-iovm.) 



Fig. 500. Nat. size, growing on a leaf. 



Fig. 501. Single fertile filaments, with the columella 

 collapsed, and fallen like a cap over the end. Magn. 50 

 diams. 



or the peridiole bursts above and disappears 

 by solution, and columella collapses upon 

 the pedicel [Jscophora, fig. 501). The mem- 

 brane of the peridiole of M. Mucedo (and 

 perhaps of other species) is clothed with 

 minute spines. The erect filament is some- 

 times simple, sometimes branched. It ap- 

 pears likely that the columella may become 

 converted into a second peridiole, by being 

 shut off* by a septum which is converted into 

 a new columella. 



It has been imagined that Achlya is 

 only an aquatic form of Mucor, and this 

 seems not improbable ; however, the experi- 

 ments we have made on this point have 

 hitherto given negative results. 



The species of Mucor described by authors 

 are pretty numerous, but we think consider- 

 able allowance for variation should always 

 be made in this genus. Rhizopus, Ehr.= 

 Mucor, when distinctly stoloniferous. It 



