SPORES. 



[ 607 ] 



SPORES. 



Fig. 689. 



regarded as gonidia, 

 and are further divided 

 into macrogonidia and 

 microgonidia (see Hy- 



DRODICTYON ), the 



latter of which may 

 perhaps have the func- 

 tion of spermatozoids 

 (see Sph^roplea 

 and Vaucheria). 



In the Fungi the 

 greatest confusion ex- 

 ists in the nomencla- 

 ture. The Agarics and 

 their congeners pro- 

 duce free naked cells cdls^containing quatemate 



at the tips of short fila- 

 ments, whence they ul- 

 timately fall off, to reproduce the plant ; these 

 are called spores or sporuJes, or distinctively 

 Basidiospores (figs. 53-55, p. 77)- There 

 is no essential difierence between them and 

 the spores produced by the Hyphomycetes, 

 either singly or in rows or capitula (Bo- 

 TRYTis, figs. 79, 80, p. 97, and figs. 690, 

 691, and PI. 20. figs. 5, 6, 15, 16) at the 

 ends of erect filaments ; these again appear 



Nodularia spumigera. 

 Filaments with sporangial 



Magnified 200 diameters. 



Fig. 690. 



Fig. 691. 



Fig. 690. aiystrosporium Stemphylium, Corda (Stem- 

 phylium, Fries). Magn. 200 diameters. 



Fig. 691. Stachyobotrys atra. Fertile filament with 

 heads of acrogenous spores. Magnified 200 diameters. 



Fig. 692. A head of spores. Magn. 500 diameters. 



to pass almost insensibly into the conidia or 

 reproductive cells produced by the breaking 

 up of the mycelium, either wholly or in part, 

 into free cells, capable of continuing the 

 growth (Torula, PI. 20. fig. 7, and Oidium, 

 PI. 20. fig. 8) ; on the other hand, the sper- 

 matia (PI. 20. figs. 2, 3, 4), such as occm- in 

 some of the Coniomycetous forms of the 

 Pyrenomycetous and Discomycetous Fungi, 



are closely related, as far as structm'e goes, 

 to the conidia of Torula, &c. and the spores 

 of the Hyphomycetes ; while the stylospores 

 of the Uredines and Tremellini pro- 

 duce bodies resembhng them, and still more 

 like the basidiospores of the Agaricini. The 

 stylospores, another free form of spore, may 

 be regarded probably as compound organs, 

 formed of a row of cells contained in a per- 

 sistent parent-cell ; it is surmised that they 

 are merely metamorphosed asci (see Sph^- 

 RiA and Stilbospora, PI. 20. figs. 25-8), 

 yet their mode of occurrence would lead 

 to the idea that they are a distinct kind of 

 organ. Lastly, we have the ascospores or 

 thecaspores (fig. 42, p. &^), closely resem- 

 bling those of the Lichens, consisting of 

 free cells with a double coat, developed free 

 in the cavity of a parent-cell or sac. In the 

 British Flora the terms sporule and spori- 

 dium are used synonymously in the sense of 

 spore, and are applied to basidiospores, asco- 

 spores, stylospores, and to the bodies (found 

 in Cytispora, Tubercularia, &c.) called by 

 Tulasne spermatia. The term sporidiola is 

 applied apparently to nuclei or granular 

 masses occumng in the cavities of spores, 

 or to the separate portions of contents of 

 imperfectly septate stylospores. 



With regard to the homologies of the 

 above structures, the spermatia are supposed 



Fig. 693. 



Fig. 694. 





i;:^^J:iAU^Jj^^-^^}^-C, 



Fig. 693. Leptotrichum glaucum. Free spores among 

 the filaments of the matrix. Magnified 200 diameters. 



Fig. 694. Fusarium herbarum. Free spores resting on 

 the matrix. Magnified 200 diameters. 



to represent spermatozoids ; the conidia are 

 regarded as corresponding to gonidia of 

 Lichens ; the stylospores are also connected 

 with these through the medium of the tetra- 

 spores of the Floridese. 



In conclusion, a reference may be made 

 to descriptions and figures like those given 

 (fio-s. 693, 694) of free spores resting on the 



