PHYC0MYCETES.-(6) ZYGOMYCETES 425 



these parasites the sporangiopliores are profusely branched. :ind tlu- . 

 many unicellular, conidium-like bodies, easily detached, and carried l.> w.. 

 wind. That they are really sporangia of very reduced form is indicated by 

 intermediate types, with minute sporangia, which contain a few spores. Evcu 

 Mucor itself, when starved, may produce such small sporangia, which show how 

 the still simpler condition may arise. The family thus illustrates a trar, 

 from water-dispersal, by spores produced internally in few large sporan, 

 dispersal through the air of sporangia reduced to a single cell, and pro«lu....l 

 in larger numbers. The latter may be held as a derivative condition. 

 A very pecuUar mode of dispersal is by forcible projection of thr 

 sporangial head. This is seen in Pilohohis, whence its name. The si>or.i; 

 is constructed like that of Mucor ; but at ripeness it breaks away from ihc 



u. 



Fig. 360. 

 I, Mucor mucedo, a sporangium in optical longitudinal section, c— columella. 

 w!=wall of sporangium. s/»=spores. 2. Mucor mucilaginetis, a sporangium shedding 

 its spores; the wall (m) is ruptinred, and the mucilaginous matrix (i) is grtally 

 swollen. (After Brefeld. i x 225 ; 2 x 300, after v. Tavel.) (From Strasburgcr.) 



stalk, which has become turgid with sap under osmotic pressure. By the 

 principle of the squirt this fluid is thrown out to a distance of some inches. 

 carrying with it the sporangial head. A similar projection happens in 

 Empiisa, but here it is only a single conidium that is discharged, which. adhcrinj* 

 to any solid body, causes the halo previously mentioned. There is thus a 

 considerable variety in the methods of dissemination in tlie Zygomycetes. 



The spores of many of the Mucorineae contain more than one 

 nucleus. There are said to be two in Pilobolus, and many m 

 Sporodinia. In the latter, which grows parasitically on large sapro* 

 phytic species of Boletus, the sporangial head is first shut otl by a 

 septum : this becomes convex, and forms the central columella. 

 The large poly-nucleate mass of protoplasm filling the head then 

 undergoes cleavage into a number of parts, each containing several 

 nuclei. These rounding themselves off form the spores. Such 

 cleavage of the contents of the sporangium is the typical method of 

 formation of spores in the Mucorini. The final result is the same in 

 all : viz. germination under favourable circumstances to form a new 

 non-septate, and poly-nucleate mycelium. 



