368 



COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY OF FUNGI 



characteristically thickened at the base (Fig. 252, 9). At first it provides 

 for the attachment of the spore to the substrate. The plants developing 

 from the ascospores are regularly surrounded by a thin, homogeneous, 

 impermeable membrane, developed from the gelatinous sheath of the 

 ascospore, which by its blackening, often conceals the structure of the 

 plant. It protects the plant from drying out during sudden changes 

 of humidity (even fixatives do not penetrate it well). The ascospores 



Fig. 247. — Zodiomyces vorticellarius. 1 to 4. Young individuals; at x, a cavity forms. 

 5. Section through periphery of mature fructification; at the right, secondary appendages 

 which surround the edge of the cup. On the floor of the cup, antheridia and perithecia in 

 various stages of development. 6. Mature ascospore. 7. Spermatial branch. 8. Young 

 perithecium whose trichogyne has copulated with a spermatium. (1 to 4 X 145, 5, 6 X 

 260, 7 X 850, 8 X 1,170; after Thaxter, 1896.) 



are not generally discharged singly but cling together in pairs, thus guar- 

 anteeing continuity for the dioecious species. In Amorphomyces Fala- 

 griae (Fig. 245, 1), generally a male and female stand so close together 

 that they seem to have arisen from the same foot. In Moschomyces, 

 the ascospores are discharged in small groups, and the young plants 

 may form small tufts. 



If the ascospore reaches its proper host and succeeds in adhering 

 by the basal end, the basal cell divides, cutting off a small basal cell, the 

 foot (Fig. 248, 2). Then the upper cell of the now three-celled plant 



