-forked, at the length of one
millimetre, into several series of branchlets. The forked branches of
the last series bear under their points, which are mostly capillary,
short erect little ramuli, and these, with which the ends of the
principal branches articulate on their somewhat broad tops, several
spores and conidia, near one another; about fifteen to twenty are
formed at the end of each little ramulus. The peculiarities and
variations which so often appear in the ramification need not be
discussed here. After the articulation of the conidia, their bearers
sink together by degrees, and are quite destroyed. The ripe conidia
are round like a ball, their surface is scarcely coloured, and almost
wholly smooth. These conidioid forms were at first described as a
separate species under the name of _Botrytis Jonesii_. How, then, do
they belong to the _Mucor_?[t] That they appear gregariously is as
little proof of an original relation to one another, here as
elsewhere. Attempts to prove that the conidia and sporangia-bearers
originate on one and the same mycelium filament may possibly hereafter
succeed. Till now this has not been the case, and he who has ever
tried to disentangle the mass of filaments which exuberantly covers
the substratum of a _Mucor_ vegetation, which has reached so far as to
form conidia, will not be surprised that all attempts have hitherto
proved abortive. The suspicion of the connection founded on the
gregariously springing up, and external resemblance, is fully
justified, if we sow the conidia in a suitable medium, for example, in
a solution of sugar. They here germinate and produce a mycelium which
exactly resembles that of the _Mucor mucedo_, and, above all, they
produce in profusion the typical sporangia of the same on its bearers.
The latter are till now alone reproductions of conidia-bearers, and
have never been observed on mycelia which have grown out of conidia.

[Illustration: FIG. 32.--Small portion of _Botrytis Jonesii_.]

These phenomena of development appear in the _Mucor_ when it dwells on
a damp substance, which must naturally contain the necessary
nourishment for it, and is exposed to the atmospheric air. Its
mycelium represents at first strong branched utricles without
partitions; the branches are of the higher order, mostly divided into
rich and very fine-pointed ramuli. In old mycelium, and also in the
sporangia-bearers, the contents of which are mostly used for the
formation of sp