72 



MORPHOLOGY OF THE MUCORS. 



oval, 30 to ^T, /x long and 15/^1. broad. It has an affinity for 

 horse-droppings, and is revealed, in cultures on this medium, by 

 the surface of the sporangiophore being thickly covered with 

 fine drops, as though bedewed. 



Muror racevioxus Fres'^wus exhibits not merely the clustered 

 branching of the sporangiophore, shown in Fig. 114, and a some- 

 what diffei'ent development of the columella, but also the forma- 

 tion of chlamydospores already mentioned in § 223. These are 

 not peculiar to this species, but are found on several allied 

 kinds, though in others they are entirely lacking. Conse- 

 quently, Brefeld (VIII.), to whom we are indebted for thorough- 

 going researches on this point, united the former into a new 

 genus, ChJatnydomucor ; and on this account Mucoi- racemoi^ios 

 also appears in the literature, under the synonymous designa- 

 tion, GMamydomuror racemosus. It produces sporangiophores, 

 which, according to the environixient, measure 5 to 40 m.m. in 



at" 



Fig. 113. — Mucor luucedo Brefeld. 



T. Sporangium of normal dimensions, m, the membrane ; sp. the spores : c, the 

 oohimella. Magn. 225. 



2. Residue of an emptied sporangium. Only a fragment (m) of the membrane is 

 left on Its point of attachment to the sporangiophore ; c is the columella. Magn. 180. 



3. stunted dwarf sporangia, with only a few spores and devoid of columella. Taken 

 from an individual infested with a parasitic fungus (Piptoeephalis). Magn. 300. {After 



hei-ht and 8 to 20 /x thick. Each of the several branches is 

 crowned with a sporangium, 20 to 70 /x in diameter. The 

 spores are globular, or of short ellipsoid form, and measure 

 6 to I o /x in length by 5 to 8 /x in breadth. Fuller particulars 

 respecting allied species, many of which are probably nothing 

 but sports, will be given in §§ 240 and 241. 



Mucor eredua Bamier has already been mentioned (§ 221) as 

 an instance of a fungus forming azygospores in addition to 

 zygospores. As there shown in two Figs., sporogenation pro- 

 ceeds in this species in a manner similar to the typical forma- 

 tion of zygospores, in so far as two opposite gametes are 

 produced. 



This procedure is more decidedly evident in the case of Mucor 

 tenuis Bainier, there being no approximation of the pairs of 



