FUNGACEM 



971 



Ascus Fructifications, or Asci, are special sporangia, containing 

 four or eight or a multiple of eight spores arranged in a single hne. 

 These spores are called ascospores. Each ascospore presents two 

 membranes, one internal, one external. The external membrane 

 frequently shows a pore, which is called the germinating pore. 



Basidia Fructifications. — Basidia are large elongated cells, each of 

 which supports at its apex two or four slender processes (sterigmata), 

 each terminating in a small roundish conidium or basidio-spore. 



4. Zygospores. — These are the product of a process of conjugation 

 or modified sexual act between two special hyphse. These hyphse 

 give rise to small club-shaped branches, which come into contact 

 and fuse together, forming a new large cell, which presents a very 

 resistant double wall. The special branches {gametes) which come 

 into contact and unite to produce the zygospore do not show any 

 apparent sexual differentiation. 



5. Oospores. — These are formed by a complete sexual act or 

 fertilization, and can therefore be compared with a fertilized 

 ovum. 



The female element {oosporangium, oogonium) contains one or 

 more roundish protoplasmatic masses (macrogametes or odspheres, 

 female gametes), and presents a thick wall pierced by several pores. 

 The male gamete {antheridiiim) , which originates on a delicate 

 special hypha, comes into contact with the oosporangium, sending a 

 protoplasmatic process through it. In other cases the antheridiiim 

 divides into several motile bodies called microgametes, antherozoids, 

 or spermatozoids, which come into contact with the oosporangium, 

 and fertilization takes place. In some rare cases the transformation 

 of the oosporangium into an oospore is in reality a process of parthe- 

 nogenesis. 



Classification. — The Fungaceae may be arranged in two divisions, 

 viz. : — 



A. Vegetative body a multinucleate naked Plasmodium- — Myxomycetes. 



B. Vegetative body usually filamentous — Eumycetes Schroeter, 1892. 



We are only concerned with the Eumycetes. 



Eumycetes Schroeter, 1892. 

 The Eumycetes may be classified as follows: — 



A. Mycelium continuous in the vegetative stage — Class I., Phycomycetes 



De Bary, 1856. 



B. Mycelium septate: — • 



I. Spores in asci — Class II., Ascomycetes Berkeley. 

 II. Spores in basidia — Class III., Basidiomycetes De Bary, 1856. 

 III. Spores not in asci or basidia, but on conidiophores, naked or 

 in pycnidia or unknown' — Class IV., Fungi Impevjecti Fuckel, 

 1869. 



The fungi parasitic in man are practically all found among the 

 Phycomycetes, the Ascomycetes, and the Fungi Imperfecti. Only 

 one species of importance is found among the Basidiomycetes, and 

 none among the Myxomycetes. 



