FUNGI AND BACTERIA 



225 



with the gills downward. Leave it for twenty-four hours. 

 What do you find on the paper ? Rub your finger over it. 

 This fine powder is composed of tiny bodies like pollen 

 grains, each of which is called a spore. These spores are 

 for the production of new plants. Name some of the 

 things in which a mushroom differs from the other plants 

 you have been studying. They lack leaves, green color, 

 flowers, and seeds. 



Mold. About a week before time for this lesson place 

 moist pieces of stale bread on a piece of pasteboard and 

 turn tumblers over them. Have pupils examine the bread. 

 What is on it? On what part of the bread is the mold 

 most abundant? Look closely at the mold. How many 

 distinct parts can you see? The mass of threads is the 

 mycelium. Do any of the threads penetrate the bread? 

 Those standing out from the mycelium with tiny white or 

 black dots on the ends are spore-bearers and the dots are 

 spore cases. Touch gently with a pin a group of these 

 black spore cases. What happens ? The cases burst open 

 and a shower of minute spores come out. What are the 

 spores for? Let us plant some of these spores to see if 

 they will grow. 



Moisten a fresh piece of bread and with a small stick 

 or end of a match transfer some of the spores to this. Plant 

 them in rows. Turn a tumbler over the bread and ex- 

 amine after forty-eight hours. Have the spores germi- 

 nated? Let the bread stand to find out how long before 

 this new crop of mold has ripe spores on it. 



Another set of experiments to show that mold and 

 other fungi grow from spores is as follows: Procure a moldy 

 orange or lemon, and a perfectly sound orange. Roll the 



