1 88 



£EGINNEKS* BQTANY 



< A\\. the.V ^V(<ro pi-odnctions of Iho dead matter upon wliidi they 

 grew, but now wo know that a mould, as any otlu'r plant, cannot, 

 rviginate spontaneously; it must start from something whidi is 

 analogous to a seed. The "seed" is this ease is a sforc. A spore 

 may be produeed by a vegciniive process (growing out from the 

 ordinary plant tissues), or it may be the result of a fertilisation 

 process. 



Favourable coyiclifions for the growth of fungi. — Place a piece 

 of bread under a moist bell jar and anotlier in an uncovered 

 place near by. Sow mould on each. Note the result from day to 

 day. Moisten a third piece of bread with weak copper snlpliate 



(blue vitriol) or mercuric chloride solution, 

 sow mould, cover with bell jar, note results, 

 and explain. Expose pieces of different kinds 

 of food in a damp atmosphere and observe 

 the variety of organisms appearing. Fungi 

 are saprophytes or parasites, and must be 

 provided with organic matter on which to 

 grow. They are usually most abundant in 

 moist places and wet seasons. 



Fig. 271. — Mucor Motdd.— One of these moulds {Mucor mu- 



MUCEHO, showing habit. «edo), which is very common on all -decay- 

 ing fruits and vegetables, is shown in Fig. 

 271, somewhat magnified. When fruiting, this mould appears as a 

 dense mass of long wldte hairs, often over an inch high, standing 

 erect from the fruit or the vegetable on which it is growing. 



The life of this mucor begins with a minute rounded spore 

 (a, Fig. 272), which lodges on the decaying material. When the 

 spore germinates, it sends out a delicate thread that grows rapidly 

 in. length and forms very many branches that 

 soon permeate every part of the substance on 

 which the plant grows, (b. Fig. 272). One of 

 these threads is termed a hypha. All the 

 threads together form the mycelium of the 

 fungus. The mycelium disorganizes the ma- 

 terial in. which it grows, and thus the mucor 

 plant (Fig. 271) is nourished. It corresponds 

 physiologically to the roots and the stems of 

 other plants. 



When the mycelium is about two days old, it begins to form the 

 long fruiting stalks which we first noticed. To study them, use a 

 compound microscope magnifying about two hundred 

 One of the stalks, magnified, is shown in a, Fig. 274. 

 of a rounded head, the sporangium, sp, supported on a long, 



Fig. 272. — Spores 

 OF Mucor, some 

 germinating. 



diameters. 

 It consists 



