hose which follow later are often
smaller, and in little weak specimens much less arched, and sometimes
quite straight. After a few days, similar filaments generally show
themselves on the dung between the sporangia-bearers, which appear to
the naked eye to be provided with delicate white frills. Where such an
one is to be found, two to four rectangular expanding little branches
spring up to the same height round the filament. Each of these, after
a short and simple process, branch out into a furcated form; the
furcations being made in such a manner that the ends of the branch at
last so stand together that their surface forms a ball. Finally, each
of the ends of a branch swells to a little round sporangium, which is
limited by a partition (called sporangiolum, to distinguish it from
the larger ones), in which some, generally four, spores are formed in
the manner already known. When the sporangiola are alone, they have
such a peculiar appearance, with their richly-branched bearers, that
they can be taken for something quite different to the organs of the
_Mucor mucedo_, and were formerly not considered to belong to it. That
they really belong to the _Mucor_ is shown by the principal filament
which it bears, not always, but very often, ending with a large
sporangium, which is characteristic of the _Mucor mucedo_; it is still
more evident if we sow the spores of the sporangiolum, for, as it
germinates, a mycelium is developed, which, near a simple bearer, can
form large sporangia, and those form sporangiola, the first always
considerably preponderating in number, and very often exclusively. If
we examine a large number of specimens, we find every possible middle
form between the simple or less branched sporangia-bearers and the
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. In a more accurate examination, they
appear different; a thicker, partition-less filament rises up and
divides itself, generally three