STRUCTURE. 53 
or less branched sporangia-bearers and he typical sporangiola 
frills; and we arrive at last at the conclusion simply to place the 
latter among the varieties of form which the sporangia-bearer 
of the Mucor mucedo shows, like every other typical organic 
form within certain limits. On the other hand, propagation 
organs, differing from those of the sporangia and their products, 
belong to Mucor mucedo, which may be termed conidia. On 
the dung (they are rare on any other substance) these appear at 
the same time, or generally somewhat later, than the sporangia- 
bearers, and are not unlike those to the naked eye. Ina more 
accurate examination, they appear different; a thicker, partition- 
less filament rises up and divides itself, generally three-forked, at 
the length of one millimetre, into several series of branchlets. 
The forked branches of the last series bear under their points, 
which are mostly capillary, short erect 
little ramuli, and these, with which 
the ends of the principal branches ar- 
ticulate on their somewhat broad tops, 
several spores and conidia, near one 
another; about fifteen to twenty are 
formed at the end of each little ra-_- 
mulus. The peculiarities and varia- acai 
tions which so often appear in the Fic. 82.—Small portion of Botrytis 
ramification need not be discussed : 
here. After the articulation of the conidia, their bearers sink 
together by degrees, and are quite destroyed. he ripe conidia 
are round like a ball, their surface is scarcely coloured, and almost 
wholly smooth. These conidioid forms were at first described 
as a separate species under the name of Botrytis Jonesii. How, 
then, do they belong to the Mucor ?* That they appear grega- 
riously is as little proof of an original relation to one another, 
here as elsewhere. Attempts to prove that the conidia and spo- 
rangia-bearers originate on one and the same mycelium filament 
may possibly hereaftersucceed. Till now this hasnot been the case, 
* We are quite aware that Von Tieghem and Le Monnier, in “ Ann. des Sci. 
Nat.” 1873, p. 335, dispute that this belongs to Mucor mucedo, and assert that 
Chetocladium Jonesit is itself a true Mucor, with monosporous sporangia. 
