SECTION II — MOLDS 



CHAPTER IV 



THE GENERAL NATURE OF MOLDS 



As intimated in the last page, the group of molds does 

 not form a scientific division. Among the plants grouped 

 under this popular name are included representatives of 

 several different groups of fungi. The general character 

 of molds is a dense mass of fine white threads. But some 

 of the higher fungi related to the toadstools produce a 

 white threadlike mass, and if we find this growing in 

 abundance upon the surface of wood we commonly call 

 it a mold. Other so-called molds belong to the different 

 subdivisions related to cup fungi, Ascontycetes, while still 

 others belong to an order of fungi which includes parasitic 

 plants like rusts and smuts, and are called ^cidiomycetes. 

 We must not, therefore, look upon molds as a division 

 which would be recognized by any botanist. For house- 

 hold purposes, however, no term can take the place of this 

 one, so universally known and so thoroughly understood. 

 In our studies, therefore, we shall group together as molds 

 all types of fungi which produce white felted threads, which 

 have the power of growing in or upon food materials, and 

 which give rise to the well-known appearance that char- 

 acterizes the plants going under this common name. Most 

 of them are closely related to each other. 



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