124] The Classification of Lower Organisms 



small group mostly saprophytic on manure. Pilobolus, another coprophilous genus, 

 is distinguished by sporangiophores which become swollen at the summit, bend 

 toward the light, and discharge the sporangia violently to a distance of several meters. 

 Rhizopus nigricans, the common black bread mold; Phycomyces, Ahsidia, Sporodinia, 

 Zygorhynchus. 



Family 2. Piptocephalidacea [Piptocephalidaceae] Schroter in Engler and Prantl 

 Nat. Pflanzenfam. I Teil, Abt. 1: 132 (1893). Family Choanephoraceae Schroter op. 

 cit. 131. Mucorina producing sporangia without columellae, or conidia, in compact 

 clusters terminal on unbranched stalks. Blakesleea, transitional between the preceding 

 family and this, may produce solitary sporangia with columellae, or else, as out- 

 growths from the primordia of sporangia, clusters of minuscule sporangia without 

 columellae. Cunninghamella, producing heads of globular conidia; Syncephalastrum, 

 with clustered cylindrical sporangia; Syncephalis and Piptocephalis, producuig 

 clustered chains of conidia. 



Family 3. Mortierellacea [Mortierellaceae] Schroter op. cit. 130. Family Chaeto- 

 cladiaceae Schroter op. cit. 131. Mucorina whose sporangiophores or conidiophores 

 are branched, the sporangia (without columellae) or conidia solitary and terminal 

 on the branches. Thamnidium, Chaetocladium, Mortierclla, Haplosporangium. 



Family 4. Zoopagacea [Zoopagaceae] Drechsler in Mycologia 27: 37 (1935). Mu- 

 corina parasitic in amoebas or nematodes, producing conidia. The hosts of Zoopaga- 

 cea inhabit the soil and are infected by contact with hyphae or conidia. From the point 

 of contact, a hypha grows into the host and gives rise to a mycelium; this is in some 

 examples reduced to a single coiled cell. The host being killed, the parasite sends 

 out hyphae which may produce conidia, usually in chains, or else may conjugate and 

 produce zygotes. Endocochlus, Cochlonema, Bdellospora, Zoopage, Acaulopage, 

 Stylopage. 



Family 5. Endogonacea [Endogonaceae] Paoletti in Saccardo Sylloge Fungorum 

 8: 905 (1889). Endogonei Fries. Mucorina saprophytic in soil or wood, producing 

 macroscopic subterranean fruits. The fruits may reach a diameter of 2 cm. Within 

 them, the tips of hyphae are cut off by crosswalls, and develop either into sporangia 

 without columellae or into gametes. 



Order 2. Entomophthorinea [Entomophthorineae] (Engler) Campbell Univ. 

 Textb. Bot 161 (1902). 

 Suborder Entomophthorineae Engler in Engler and Prantl Nat. Pflanzen- 

 fam. I Teil, Abt. 1: iv (1897). 

 Order Entomophthorales Smith Crypt. Bot. 1: 408 (1938). 

 Zygomycetes, mostly parasitic, producing explosively discharged conidia [Masso- 

 spora, while clearly belonging to the group, is an exception to the stated character). 

 These organisms, although of the general nature of ordinary Inophyta, exhibit 

 cytological characters markedly distinguishing the two families from the generality 

 of Inophyta and from each other. The position here given to them is the customary 

 one; it is doubtful that it is natural. 



Family 1. Entomophthoracea [Entomophthoraceac] Berlese and de Toni in Sac- 

 cardo Sylloge 7: 280 (1888). Most species are parasitic in the bodies of insects, 

 whose tissues they replace. The hyphae become divided by crosswalls, and the multi- 

 nucleate cells thus produced tend to round up and become separate. A well-nourished 

 cell may send forth a hypha which reaches the outer air and whose tip is cut off and 

 discharged in the direction of the light. Martin (1925) and Couch (1939) described 



