46 FUNGI. 



growth ; they all separate their inner space from the principal 

 stem, by means of a cross partition placed close to it. All the 

 ends, and also that of the principal stem, swell abont the same 

 time something like a bladder, and on the npper free half of 

 each swelling appear again, simultaneously, .several fine pro- 

 tuberances, close together, which quickly grow to little oval 

 bladders filled with protoplasm, and resting on their bearers 

 with a sub-sessile, pedicellate, narrow basis, and which at length 

 separate themselves through a partition as in Aspergillus. The 

 detached cells are the conidia of our fungus ; only one is formed 

 on each stalk. When the formation is completed in the whole 

 of the panicle, the little branches which compose it are de- 

 prived of their protoplasm in favour of the conidia ; it is the 

 same with the under end of the principal stem, the limits of 

 which are marked by a cross partition. The delicate wall of 

 these parts shrinks up until it is unrecognizable ; all the conidia 

 of the panicle approach one another to form an irregular grape- 

 like bunch, which rests loosely on the bearer, and from which 

 it easily falls away as dust. If they be brought into water they 

 fall off immediately; only the empty, shrivelled, delicate skins 

 are to be found on the branch which bore them, and the places 

 on which they are fixed to the principal stem clearly appear as 

 round circumscribed hilums, generally rather arched towards 

 the exterior. The development of the main stem is not ended 

 here. It remains solid and filled with protoplasm as far as the 

 portion which forms the end through its conidia. Its end, 

 which is to be found among these pieces, becomes pointed after 

 the ripening of the first panicle, pushes the end of the shrivelled 

 member on one side, and grows to the same length as the 

 height of one or two panicles, and then remains still, to form a 

 second panicle similar to the first. This is later equally per- 

 foliated as the first, then a third follows, and thus a large 

 number of panicles are produced after and over one another on 

 the same stem. In perfect specimens, every perfoliated panicle 

 hangs loosely to its original place on the surface of the stem, 

 until by shaking or the access of water to it, it falls immediately 

 into the single conidia, or the remains of branches, and the 



