CHAPTER III,—SPORES OF FUNGI, 81 
structure of that in Peziza confluens ; I could not see it in the ascus when fully formed, 
but the young spore-primordia on the other hand have a distinct nucleus. The spores 
lie close together and form a small group of usually six small round delicate cells, which 
occupy the apex or a part of one side of the ascus; they are all alike when quite young 
and were probably therefore formed simultaneously, but they develope very unequally ; 
the mature asci contain from one to eight, usually six spores. 
c. The formation of spores in the sporangia of Protomyces macrosporus 
(Fig. 41), if the expression is allowable in this case, takes place after they are laid on or 
in water. Before the water makes its way into them they have experienced complex 
changes, which cannot be further described in this place, and have assumed the form of 
spherical vesicles (Fig. 41 5) the walls of which are lined with a layer of dense 
granular protoplasm (c) enclosing a large central cavity filled with water. No nuclei 
have been seen in them. The layer of protoplasm now breaks up simultaneously all 
“round the cell usually into hundreds of ‘spores’ (d), which when the separation is 
complete are small polygonal finely granular bodies parted by narrow hyaline streaks, 
d 

FIG. 41. Protomyces macrosporus, Unger. a mature resting-spore in the dormant state (see section LIII) with the remains of the 
hypha on which it was formed. 5 further development when cultivated in water; the protoplasm enclosed in an inner layer of the 
membrane (inner cell) swells up and escapes from the ruptured outer layers of the c—ed of the spores inthe 
inner cell (: i which has ped from the outer cell. Inc the protoplasm is parietal. In @ the protoplasm is divided into spores. 
Ine the spores form a cluster and are separated from the layer of protoplasm which still lines the wall. Magn. 390 times. 


and presently assume the form of small cylindrical rods about 2.2 y in length. 
The differentiation in the protoplasm described in my work quoted in section LIII as 
preceding the partition requires fresh examination. A granular parietal layer of 
protoplasm which permanently clothes the membrane and a small portion of hyaline 
substance between the spores, possibly of the nature of protoplasm, is not employed 
in the formation of the spores. The latter substance becomes visible, when the spores 
have taken the form of rods and have collected into a ball (e) on one side of the 
wall of the sporangium, as a series of radiating threads running from the ball of spores 
to the wall-utricle; but by degrees it disappears entirely and a watery fluid takes 
its place. 
Section XX. The spores which are produced endogenously are usually 
set free from their mother-cells in some determinate manner as soon as they are 
ripe and fully grown. In a few cases, as in Elaphomyces, Eurotium and perhaps in 
Penicillium, they escape from the mother-cell before they have acquired the size and 
structure which usually precede germination, and they subsequently attain to these at the 
expense of dissimilar cells which had surrounded the sporangium. In extremely rare 
L4] G 
