406 AQUATIC PHYCOMYCETES 



sporangium or from a single main axis, or an apophysis; resting spore 

 asexually or sexually formed. 



SPOROPHLYCTIDIUM Sparrow 



Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc, 18: 217. 1933; 21 : 147. 1938 

 (Fig. 25 H, p. 411) 



Thallus monocentric, eucarpic, consisting of a sporangial rudiment 

 (the body of the encysted aplanospore) and a single unbranched nearly 

 isodiametric tube, the tip of which is endobiotic; sporangium inoper- 

 culate, formed from the sporangial rudiment, spores (aplanospores) 

 produced in the sporangium, at maturity liberated upon the formation 

 of one or more discharge papillae, devoid of a flagellum ; resting spore 

 not known with certainty. 



So far as is known, this is a monotypic genus, members of which live 

 on fresh-water green algae. 



Sporophlyctidium closely resembles Sporophlyctis rostrata in its main 

 features. The relationship of the parasite to the alga is similar, as is the 

 shape of the sporangium, the position of the discharge pore, and the 

 nonflagellate zoospore (aplanospore). In Sporophlyctidium, however, the 

 structure which makes contact with the host cell is never branched or 

 rhizoidal, but unbranched and "inflated" (broad). Further, the spores 

 of Sporophlyctidium are not formed in a vesicle (sporangium) extruded 

 from the sporangium, but rather are segmented within the latter body 

 and discharged individually. New investigations will be necessary before 

 it can be said with absolute certainty that the resting spores found in 

 the same material as the sporangia belong to the species. 



Sporophlyctidium africanum Sparrow 



Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc. 18: 217. 1933; 21: 147, fig. 1 a-f. 1938 



Sporangium narrowly obpyriform, smooth-walled, colorless, the 

 narrower end continuous with the unbranched germ tube, 5 \l long by 

 3.5-4 \l in diameter, forming a single subapical pore through which 

 the spherical aplanospores, 2 \x in diameter, with a single globule, are 

 extruded ; resting spore (?) similar in shape to the sporangium, 7 a long 



