U C O R. 
161 
like bunches of grapes. Pifcovered on a decaying plant 
of Boletus verficolor. 
11. Mucorentoniorhizus: fimple or branched; heads 
nearly fpherical, granular, brown. 
12. Mucor cafeus : cruft leather-like ; ftems very (hort; 
heads or feeds roundifti, white, yellow, or fcarlet. Ob- 
lerved by Mr. Relhan on old clieefe kept in a moilt cellar, 
and on decayed leaves in woods. 
13. Mucor aurantius : cruftaceous ; ftems branched, 
creeping; feeds few', roundifti, fcattered, very minute, 
orange-coloured. Of long duration. Found by Mr. Rel¬ 
han on willows, by the river in Granchefter-meadow, 
near Cambridge. 
14. Mucor chryfofpermus: extremely fine, yellow; con- 
fiftingof ftems ftupporting yellow feeds, lingly or in clufters. 
Covering the whole furface of the plants on which they 
grow, and ftaining the fingers yellow. Thefe plants are 
the Boleti which grow in lhady places; generally on the 
Boletus pellucidus, from Auguft to September. It has 
the fame property of repelling-wet that has been obferved 
in the feeds of the Lycopodium. A fpecimen now before 
me is not wetted, though it has been immerfed in, a fluid 
fora year. Withering. 
15. Mucor lignifragus: growing in fpots ; white or 
green; ftems very flender, branched, interwoven; feeds 
very minute, roundifti, fcattered. At firlt white, then 
deep green, often but a few together; figure of the fpots 
uncertain. Found at Whitewood near Gamlingay. 
16. Mucor argenteus: fpreading, white, confilting of 
extremely-fine woolly filaments fupporting feeds. This 
foecies is fomewhat hemifpherical, about an inch or more 
in diameter ; brown and pulpy when young, of a brilliant 
white when arrived at maturity, dilcharging, by one or 
more irregular accidental openings, a mafs of rich dark 
fnuff-coloured powder: loon after, it turns dingy, and 
from grey waxes brown. In the molt complete fpecimens 
of this fpecies, the threads grow out of the inferior mem¬ 
brane ; they are fcarce, dilperfed, firm, vertical, and ob¬ 
lique, not much in the arbufcular form. This fpecies 
inhabits the ftems and large boughs of the oak, the Scotch 
fir, the birch, &c. and is eafily met with in fummer and 
autumn. 
17. Mucor leprofus : briftle-fhaped ; feeds at the root. 
Found in caverns and arched cellars, from September to 
April. 
18. Mucor eryfiphe : white; heads brown, feflile. In¬ 
habits decaying leaves in Auguft and September. 
19. Mucor granulolus : cruftaceous, black; capfules 
feflile. Grows in circular fpots of half an inch in dia¬ 
meter on the leaves of the fycamore, occupying both 
furfaces of the leaf. Obferved by Mr. Relhan; but Mr. 
Withering doubts the propriety of placing it under the 
prefent genus. 
20. Mucor flavidus : ftalk branched ; heads yellowifti, 
afterwards grey. Found in autumn upon rotten fungi, 
elpecially agaricus piperatus, on which it forms little in¬ 
determinate patches. At firft this Hands nearly upright, 
and is of a fttining yellow ; afterwards it lies down, and 
aflumes the afpeit of a greyilh alh-coloured byflus. The 
heads are blackilh when ripe, and appear fomewhat gra¬ 
nulated, from the protrulion of the feeds through the 
burfting coat. The latter are globular and whitifh. 
21. Mucor turbinatum : top-lhaped, naked, even, pale 
brown. Furnifhed with a kind of (hort ftalk, which gives 
It a pear-fhaped figure. Bulliard fays it is pellucid when 
young. Found upon rotten wood in autumn. 
22. Mucor punfilatum : aggregate, globofe, dotted, 
greyilh. Found on rotten wood. Its furface dotted all 
over with minute points. 
23. Mucor atrum : black, cuftiion-fhaped ; its powder 
intermixed with branched arboriform black fibres radiat¬ 
ing from a centre. Of this fpecies there are two very 
diftinft varieties, 
a. M. pulvinatum. This fungus, which might con¬ 
tinue a genus by itlelf, was lately difcovered by. the in- 
Vol. XVI. No. jjoi. 
genious botanifts of Upper Lufatta, Albertini and Schwei- 
niz, who gave it a eonfpicuous place in their nuich- 
efteemed Conjpefius Fungorum . At firft fight, and con- 
lidering efpecially the capillary ftruffure of the duft of 
this plant, the mycologifts above mentioned were tempted 
to aftlgn it a place by the Trichoderma fuliginoidgs of 
Perfoon; but, upon farther confideration, and finding 
that its charafteriftics coincided with the Lycogala argen- 
teum, now included in this genus, they prudently ab- 
ftained from bringing their firft intention into a pofitive 
effeft. In general this curious variety lives folitary; 
yet fometimes a few individuals meet together, and form 
a caelpes, or turf, running apparently into each other; 
(fee fig. 9.) This however happens but feldom, and 
ariftes from an accidental and clofe contiguity of the in¬ 
dividuals. The form of this fungus is, in general, pretty 
regular; pulvinated or half deprefted, and loofely diffused 
on the ground. The diameter between one and two • 
inches, and the thicknefs a third or half of an inch. The 
whole primitive plant remains fome time in a ftate of 
foftnefs, not unufual to the tribe of trichofpermous or 
hair-feeded fungi; being at firft white, and then inclining 
to yellow ; then, from blood-colour turning to chefnut, 
it dries up and proclaims its entire maturity; exhibiting 
by degrees feveral curious (hades of colours, from the 
brightnefs of -white to the dulnefs of dark brown or grey. 
Having attained its ftate of perfection, it dilclofes a mem¬ 
brane placed underneath, ftrong, tranfparent, a!h-co- 
laured inclining to. a filver tint, fiat and incumbent upon 
the native wood, ns (hown at h. From its centre diverge 
feveral filaments, fimple and firm, dividing themfelves 
into numerous ramifications, like a tree in miniature, 
and fcattering their generative duft at random. Thefe 
filaments, (one of which is (hown enlarged at c,) which 
become plain to the fight as foon as the pollen is blown off, 
are not unlike, and feem intended by Providence for the 
fame purpofe as, the fibres which conned: together the 
eggs of fifties, and are moft eonfpicuous in thofe of the 
cancer tribe, viz. the lobfter, .prawn, crayfiih, Sec. Every 
one of the particles, which compofe this curious and 
moft admirable pollen, has a petiole by which it holds to 
the branch upon which it grows, like the fruit of a tree; 
and, when we confider that the fap mult circulate through 
thefe imperceptible hairs, we are filled with awe and 
aftonifliment at the power of nature, and the immenfity of 
the creation, lince to the eyes of God the wonderful bulk 
of the fun, the liars, and the planets, are of equal fize 
with the evanefeent globules which conftitute the duft of 
plants like thefe ! The cortex, or bark, which covers this 
fungus outfide, is fometimes of a dingy grey, fometimes 
black : it forms a fort of lcabellus, or (tool, curioully and 
elegantly wrought, fmooth in its interftices, yet thin, 
tender, and moft brittle ; which, burfting at the lead 
touch, blows off and puffs away its copious, fubtile, and 
brownifli, farina. 
/ 3 . M. pendulum, or hanging. This variety- differs 
from the preceding in bulk and habits. It is but one 
third of the other in bigriefs., and hangs from beams or 
other pieces of wood horizontally placed. Its form is 
globofe and fubturbinated, ending in a fort of ftipes. 
The heavieft parts of the lubftance, yielding to the laws 
of gravity, when it is yet in a ftate of foftnefs, defeend to 
the bottom, and, gathering around the ramifications of the 
arbufeulum, allow the Item to appear. In this variety 
the furface is often marked with circular iines; and one. 
has been found with white filaments, which foon difap- 
peared. Both varieties inhabit the lofty (hades of the 
firs, and are moft numerous when,ever the caterpillar, by 
its horrid depredations, has made the verdant honours of 
the pine fall a victim to its voracity. It thrives in April, 
May, and June ; and fometimes reappears in October and 
November. 
24. Mucor miniatum, or fcarlet: aggregate, globofe3 
at firft fcarlet 5 then brown, with rofe-coloured powder. 
Common on the trunks of trees, after rain, in fummer 
T t and 
