244 PRACTICAL BOTANY 



V. MUCORINE^: 

 MUCOR MUCEDO, Fres 



I. If a slice of bread be soaked in water, and kept under a 

 bell-glass, various moulds will make their appearance upon it : 

 about the fourth or fifth day there will be seen a mould, which 

 at first appears white and flocculent, producing long unbranched 

 stalks, which terminate in round heads, white at first, and sub- 

 sequently becoming black : this will be Mucor Mucedo. It may 

 also be obtained on horse-dung kept under a bell-glass, and on 

 various other substrata. 



II. Remove a very small piece of the bread bearing the 

 mould, and tease it out gently in water : mount and examine 

 under a low power : note 



1. Relatively thick, non-septate hyphas, which ramify in the 

 substance of the bread. 



2. Relatively thin branches, which are produced from the 

 thick ones, and themselves, branching repeatedly, produce a very 

 extensive system of minute fibrils. 



3. Hyphae similar to (i), which however grow erect in the air 

 (gonidophores), each bearing at its summit one spherical spor- 

 angium : this will certainly have been damaged in the process 

 of preparation. 



III. Cut off a number of mature sporangia with scissors 

 from the flocculent growth, treating them very gently, so as to 

 avoid damage : mount them in alcohol, and examine them 

 quickly under a low power : observe 



1 . The cylindrical gonidiophores, terminated by 



2. The spherical and dark-coloured sporangium, with its 



