5 8 COMMON BLACK MOLD. 



8. Completed zygospores as the result of conjugation of the 

 end cells. 



9. Draw. 



ANNOTATIONS. 



Fungi are devoid of chlorophyll and consequently cannot 

 utilize sunlight and inorganic substances in initiating the 

 process of food construction. All Fungi must obtain food 

 at least partially prepared for them. Mucor may obtain 

 its nourishment from a variety of dead organic bodies. 

 Its spores are so abundant that the plant usually appears 

 when favorable conditions of growth are provided. 



The branching ccenocytic body of Mucor is quite like 

 some of the Chlorophyceae among the Algae. The sexual 

 reproduction recalls strongly the formation of zygospores in 

 Spirogyra and its nearest relatives among the green Algae, 

 and this is taken to indicate a possible close relationship 

 between these groups, it being supposed that Mucor, 

 as well as some other Fungi yet to be considered, have 

 descended from like ancestors with such Algae as Spirogyra 

 and Vaucheria. The gradual adaptation to a dependent 

 habit of living was doubtless accompanied by the gradual 

 loss of chlorophyll, so that the plants now bear little 

 superficial similarity to Algae, and only a more detailed 

 study of the structures that are least likely to be affected 

 by such habits reveals the relationship. 



The wide distribution of the molds and the readiness 

 with which they grow on decaying substances must be 

 recognized as of considerable economic significance. 

 As agencies of decay, they not only prove injurious to 

 some substances, but are helpful in reducing many others 

 to a form again usable by other plant life. 



