248 



THE LOWER FUNGI— PHYCOMYCETES 



terminated by a more or less globose sporangium ; sporangial wall 

 neither cutinized nor incrusted. very thin and soon disintegrat- 

 ing; columella large, hemispherical; sporangiospores spherical, 

 smooth, dark brown; zygospores developed on specialized erect, 

 dichotomously branched, aerial hyphae, termed zygophores; 

 copulating branches lateral on the zygophore; the zygospore 

 formed between their tips as in Mucor; species homothaUic 

 (Fig. 85). 



Fig. 85. — Sporodinia grandis Link, (a) Sporangiophore and sporangia, (fe) 

 Zygophore showing conjugating gametangia. (c) Gametangia and suspensors. 

 {d) Mature zygospore, (a, after Lendner 1908; b, after de Bary 1864; c, d, after 

 Keene 1914.) 



Link based his description of Sporodinia on the sporangial 

 stage alone. The zygophore and zygospore were described earlier 

 by Ehrenberg who founded the genus Syzgites on them. Tulasne 

 emended the generic description of Sporodinia to include both 

 stages, and Brefeld later, by germinating the zygospores, proved 

 that the two stages do in fact arise from the same mycelium. 



The species ;S. grandis Link, type of the genus, is apparently 

 the only known species, it having been included in the genus 

 under a considerable number of specific names by various 

 students. 



8. Phycomyces Kunze and Schmidt {Mycol. Hefte, 2 : 113, 1823). 

 Mycehum wide-spreading in and on the substratum, richly 

 branched; stolons absent; sporangiophores simple, stiffly erect, 

 possessing a pronounced metallic iridescence, often exceptionally 

 tall, reaching a length in some cases of ten or twelve inches, 

 though usually shorter; sporangia terminal, large, globose, with 

 a pyriform apically broadened columella; sporangial wall not 



