scribed nature in its
construction and growth.

The superficial threads of the mycelium produce other filaments beside
those numerous branches which have been described, and which are the
fruit thread (carpophore) or conidia thread. These are on an average
thicker than the mycelium threads, and only exceptionally ramified or
furnished with partitions; they rise almost perpendicularly into the
air, and attain a length of, on an average, half a millimetre, or
one-fiftieth of an inch, but they seldom become longer, and then their
growth is at an end. Their free upper end swells in a rounded manner,
and from this is produced, on the whole of its upper part, rayed
divergent protuberances, which attain an oval form, and a length
almost equal to their radius, or, in weaker specimens, the diameter of
the rounded head. The rayed divergent protuberances are the direct
producers and bearers of the propagating cells, spores, or conidia,
and are called sterigmata. Every sterigma at first produces at its
point a little round protuberance, which, with a strong narrow basis,
rests upon the sterigma. These are filled with protoplasm, swell more
and more, and, after some time, separate themselves by a partition
from the sterigma into independent cells, spores, or conidia.

The formation of the first spore takes place at the same end of the
sterigma, and in the same manner a second follows, then a third, and
so on; every one which springs up later pushes its predecessor in the
direction of the axis of the sterigma in the same degree in which it
grows itself; every successive spore formed from a sterigma remains
for a time in a row with one another. Consequently every sterigma
bears on its apex a chain of spores, which are so much the older, the
farther they stand from the sterigma. The number of the links in a
chain of spores reaches in normal specimens to ten or more. All
sterigmata spring up at the same time, and keep pace with one another
in the formation of the spores. Every spore grows for a time,
according to its construction, and at last separates itself from its
neighbours. The mass of dismembered spores forms that fine glaucous
hue which is mentioned above. The spores, therefore, are articulated
in rows, one after the other, from the ends of the sterigmata. The
ripe spore, or conidium, is a cell of a round or broadly oval form,
filled with a colourless protoplasm, and, if observed separately, is
found to be provided with a brow