PHYCOMYCES. 



[ 595 ] 



PHYLLOPHORA. 



P. inguinalis (Pediculus pubis). Parasitic 

 upon man. Length 1-10 to 1-20". 



The ova are firmly fastened to the hairs 

 by a glutinous secretion ; they are urn- 

 shaped, and furnished with a lid. 



BIBL. Denny, Mon. Anopl. 8; Leach, 

 Zool, Misc. iii. Go ; Megnin, Paras. 75. 



PHYCOMY'CES, Kze. A genus of 

 Mucoiini (Phycomycetous Fungi), of which 

 one species, P. nitens, has been found in 

 Britain growing on the walls of oil-cellars 

 and on grease. It is olive-coloured, dis- 

 tinguished from Mucor chiefly by the absence 

 of a columeila, the pyriform peridiole, and 

 oblong spores-; but the entire plants are 

 much larger and of more solid texture. 

 The fertile filaments of P. splendens, the 

 only other known species, are as thick as a 

 horse-hair, and 3 to 4" high. 



It is the finest of all the Mucorini, and 

 was at first considered an Alga, which it 

 strongly resembles on a superficial exami- 

 nation, when dry, from its green shining 

 threads. 



Van Tieghem attributes to this a fructi- 

 fication like that of Syzygites, with which 

 genus it must ultimately be combined. 



BIBL. Fries, Syst. Myc. iii. 3C9 ; Sum. 

 Veg. 488 ; Berk. Ann. N. H. vi. 433 ; Van 

 Tieghem, Ann. Sc. Nat. 1873, xvii. 292. 



PHYCOMYCE'TES. An order of Fungi 

 composed of microscopic plants of very 

 simple organization, the mycelium being a 

 by&soid or flocculent mass, bearing simple 

 vesicular sporanges (peridiola), filled with 

 minute spores. The nature of the mem- 

 branous wall of the peridioles is not yet well 

 ascertained in all the genera, some authors 

 describing it as merely a veil, others as a 

 perfect sac formed by the expansion of the 

 terminal cell of the filament, which is cer- 

 tainly true in Mucor. According to our 

 own observations, the spores are formed by 

 free-cell formation in the peridiole, which 

 ultimately bursts to discharge the spores. 



But the division Antennariei cannot stand ; 

 AKTENNABIA seems to be merely a form of 

 CAPNODirM ; and PISOMYXA and PLEURO- 

 PYXIS are obscure objects of which little is 

 known. 



In the Antennariei the peridioles are ses- 

 sile on radiating flocci, which sometimes 

 send processes which grow up and surround 

 them, or they are attached to the sides of 

 eiect filaments; these filaments form whitish 

 or greyish patches, on the leaves of trees 

 and herbs, bearing a close external resem- 

 blance to Erysiphe. 



The Mucoiini are moulds growing on 

 decaying organic matter, the mycelium 

 constituting flocks floating in liquids or 

 overgrowing damp substances, while the 

 delicate spore-sacs or peridioles are borne 

 at the apices of erect stalk-like and often 

 extremely branched filaments. The genus 

 Syzyyites exhibits a remarkable peculiarity. 

 Each spore-sac is formed by means of the 

 conjugation of two branches of the ramified 

 fructification (see SYZYGITES). 



The later researches on the plants of this 

 group seem to indicate that, as in most of 

 the Fungal Orders, much remains to be 

 cleared up concerning the relations of the 

 forms. See on this subject the article Eu- 

 POTITJM, which genus, according to De 

 Bary's researches, is associated as merely a 

 second form of fructification, with ASPER- 

 GILLUS, upon the same mycelium. 



PH YL ACTEL 'LA, Hincks, = Lepralia 

 pt. (Hincks, Polyz. 356.) 



PHYLLODE'L A series of Lichena- 

 ceous Lichens. 



Char. Thallusfoliaceous, depressed, lobed. 



BIBL. Leighton, Brit. Lich. Flora, p. 2. 



PHYLLOGONIA'CE^E. A family of 

 Pleurocarpous Mosses, distinguished by the 

 peculiar character of the leaves and their 

 arrangement. The leaves are either in-/ 

 serted horizontally or imbricated vertically, 

 clasping, and are composed of very narrow 

 linear parenchymatous cells, appearing 

 almost confluent into a homogeneous mem- 

 brane, auricled at the base, with minute, 

 parenchymatous, thickened alar cells ar- 

 ranged orbicularly at the auricles, very 

 smooth j the leaves stand in two opposite 

 rows. 



This family contains only the single small 

 exotic genus Phyllogonimn. 



PHYLLOM'ITUS, Stein. A genus of 

 Flagellate Infusoria. Free, ovate ; flagella 

 two, unequal, united at the basal portion ; 

 no mouth. P. undulans, freshwater. (Kent, 

 Inf. 299.) 



PHYLLOPH'ORA, Grev. A genus of 

 Cryptonemiaceas (Florideous Algas), con- 

 sisting of several species, with a red, rigidly 

 membranous, stalked, leaf-like, often dicho- 

 tomous thallus, the lobes of which are often 

 proliferous ; from a few inches to a foot long, 

 growing near low-water mark, or in the sea. 

 (P. rubens, PI. 4. fig. 4.) 



The fructification consists of: 1. favelli- 



dia, scattered over the thallus, containing 



minute spores ; 2. antheridia, wart-like 



bodies composed of radiating moniliform 



2Q 2 



