Fungi: Their Nature and Uses Part 11

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 48.--_Diachea elegans._]

Under the name of STYLOSPORES may be cla.s.sed those spores which in some orders of _Coniomycetes_ are produced at the apex of short threads, either enclosed in a perithecium, or seated upon a kind of stroma.

These are exceedingly variable, sometimes large, and multiseptate, at other times minute, resembling spermatia. In such genera as are chiefly epiphytal, in _Septoria_, _Phyllosticta_, and their allies, the minute spores are enclosed within membranaceous perithecia, and when mature these are ejected from the orifice at the apex, or are exposed by the breaking off of the upper portion of the perithecia. In _Diplodia_ and _Hendersonia_ the spores are larger, mostly coloured, often very fine in the latter genus, and multiseptate, escaping from the perithecia by a terminal pore. Probably the species are only pycnidia of _Sphaeriacei_, but that is of no consequence in relation to our present inquiry. Of stylospores which deserve mention on account of their singularity of form, we may note those of _Dilophospora graminis_, which are straight, and have two or three hair-like appendages at each extremity. In _Discosia_ there is a single oblique bristle at each end, or at the side of the septate spores, whilst in _Neottiospora_ a tuft of delicate hairs is found at one extremity only. The appendages in _Dinemasporium_ are similar to those of _Discosia_. The spores in _Prosthemium_ may be said in some sort to resemble compound _Hendersonia_, being fusiform and multiseptate, often united at the base in a stellate manner. In this genus, as in _Darluca_, _Cytispora_, and the most of those belonging to the _Melanconiei_, the spores when mature are expelled from the orifice of the perithecium or spurious perithecium, either in the form of tendrils, or in a pasty ma.s.s. In these instances the spores are more or less involved in gelatine, and when expelled lie spread over the matrix, around the orifice; their ultimate diffusion being due to moisture washing them over other parts of the same tree, since it is probable that their natural area of dissemination is not large, the higher plants, of which they are mostly conditions, being developed on the same branches. More must be known of the relations between _Melanconium_ and Tulasne's sphaeriaceous genus _Melanconis_ before we can appreciate entirely the advantage to _Melanconium_ and some other genera, that the wide diffusion of their spores should be checked by involving them in mucus, or their being agglutinated to the surface of the matrix, only to be softened and diffused by rain. The spores in many species amongst the _Melanconiei_ are remarkably fine; those of _Stegonosporium_ have the endochrome part.i.te and cellular.

In _Stilbospora_ and _Coryneum_ the spores are multiseptate, large, and mostly coloured. In _Asterosporium_ the spores are stellate, whilst in _Pestalozzia_ they are septate, with a permanent peduncle, and crested above with two or three hyaline appendages.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 49.--Spore of _Hendersonia polycystis_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 50.--Spores of _Dilophospora graminis_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 51.--Spores of _Discosia_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 52.--Spore of _Prosthemium betulinum_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 53.--Spore of _Stegonosporium cellulosum_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 54.--Stylospores of _Coryneum disciforme_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 55.--Spores of _Asterosporium Hoffmanni_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 56.--Spores of _Pestalozzia_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 57.--_Bispora monilioides_.]

The _Torulacei_ externally, and to the naked eye, are very similar to the black moulds, and the mode of dissemination will be alike in both.

The spores are chiefly compound, at first resembling septate threads, and at length breaking up into joints, each joint of which possesses the function of a spore. In some instances the threads are connate, side by side, as in _Torula hysterioides_, and in _Speira_, being concentrically arranged in laminae in the latter genus. The structure in _Sporochisma_ is very peculiar, the joints breaking up within an external tube or membrane. The spores in _Sporidesmium_ appear to consist of irregular ma.s.ses of cells, agglomerated into a kind of compound spore. Most of the species become pulverulent, and the spores are easily diffused through the air like an impalpable dust. They form a sort of link between the stylospores of one section of the _Coniomycetes_, and the pseudospores of the parasitical section.

PSEUDOSPORE is, perhaps, the most fitting name which can be applied to the so-called spores of the parasitical _Coniomycetes_. Their peculiar germination, and the production of reproductive bodies on the germ tubes, prove their a.n.a.logy to some extent with the prothallus of other cryptogams, and necessitate the use of some term to distinguish them from such spores as are reproductive without the intervention of a promycelium. The differences between these pseudospores in the several genera are confined in some instances to their septation, in others to their mode of development. In the _aecidiacei_ the pseudospores are more or less globose, produced in chains within an external cellular peridium. In the _Caeomacei_ they are simple, sometimes produced in chains, and sometimes free, with or without a caduceous peduncle. In the _Ustilaginei_ they are simple, dark coloured, and occasionally attached in subglobose ma.s.ses, as in _Urocystis_ and _Thecaphora_, which, are more or less compact. In the _Pucciniaei_ the distinctive features of the genera are based upon the more or less complex nature of the pseudospores, which are bilocular in _Puccinia_, trilocular in _Triphragmium_, multilocular in _Phragmidium_, &c. In the curious genus _Podisoma_ the septate pseudospores are involved in a gelatinous element. The diffusion of these fruits is more or less complete according to their compact or pulverulent nature. In some species of _Puccinia_ the sori are so compact that they remain attached to the leaves long after they are dead and fallen. In the genus _Melampsora_, the wedge-shaped winter-pseudospores are not perfected until after the dead leaves have for a long time remained and almost rotted on the ground. It is probable that their ultimate diffusion is only accomplished by the rotting and disintegration of the matrix. In the _Caeomacei_, _Ustilaginei_, and _aecidiacei_ the pseudospores are pulverulent, as in some species of _Puccinia_, and are easily diffused by the motion of the leaves in the wind, or the contact of pa.s.sing bodies. Their diffusion in the atmosphere seems to be much less than in the case of the _Hyphomycetes_. By what means such a species as _Puccinia malvacearum_, which has very compact sori, has become within so short a period diffused over such a wide area, is a problem which in the present state of our knowledge must remain unsolved. It may be through minute and plentiful secondary spores.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 58.--Pseudospores of _Thecaphora hyalina_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 59.--Pseudospores of _Puccinia_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 60.--Pseudospores of _Triphragmium_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 61.--Pseudospores of _Phragmidium bulbosum_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 62.--_Melampsora salicina._ (Winter fruit.)]

SPERMATIA are very minute delicate bodies found a.s.sociated with many of the epiphyllous _Coniomycetes_, and it has been supposed are produced in conjunction with some of the _Sphaeriacei_, but their real function is at present obscure, and the name is applied rather upon conjecture than knowledge. It is by no means improbable that spermatia do exist extensively amongst fungi, but we must wait in patience for the history of their relationship.

TRICHOSPORES might be applied better, perhaps, than _conidia_ to the spores which are produced on the threads of the _Hyphomycetes_. Some of them are known to be the conidia of higher plants; but as this is by no means the case with all, it would be a.s.suming too much to give the name of conidia to the whole. By whatever name they may be called, the spores of the _Hyphomycetes_ are of quite a different type from any yet mentioned, approximating, perhaps, most closely to the basidiospores of the _Hymenomycetes_ in some, and _Gasteromycetes_ in others; as, for instance, in the _Sepedoniei_ and the _Trichodermacei_. The form of the spores and their size differ materially, as well as the manner in which they are produced on the threads. In many they are very minute and profuse, but larger and less plentiful in the _Dematiei_ than in the _Mucedines_. The spores of some species of _Helminthosporium_ are large and multiseptate, calling to mind the spores of the _Melanconiei_. Others are very curious, being stellate in _Triposporium_, circinate in _Helicoma_ and _Helicocoryne_, angular in _Gonatosporium_, and ciliate in _Menispora ciliata_. Some are produced singly and some in chains, and in some the threads are nearly obsolete. In _Peronospora_, it has been demonstrated that certain species produce minute zoospores from the so-called spores. The dissemination of the minute spores of the _Mucedines_ through the air is undoubted; rain also certainly a.s.sists not only in the dispersion of the spores in this as in other groups, but also in the production of zoospores which require moisture for that purpose. The form of the threads, and the mode of attachment of the spores, is far more variable amongst the _Mucedines_ than the form of the spores, but the latter are in all instances so slightly attached to their supports as to be dissevered by the least motion. This aids also in the diffusion of the spores through the atmosphere.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 63.--Spores of _Helicocoryne_.]

SPORANGIA are produced in the _Physomycetes_ usually on the tips or branches of delicate threads, and these when mature dehisce and set free the minute sporidia. These are so small and uniform in their character that they require but a pa.s.sing mention. The method of diffusion agrees much with that of the _Mucedines_, the walls of the sporangia being usually so thin and delicate as to be easily ruptured.

Other modes of fructification prevail in some species by the production of cysts, which are the result of conjugation of the threads. These bodies are for the most part furnished with thicker and more resistant walls, and the diffusion of their contents will be regulated by other circ.u.mstances than those which influence the dispersion of the minute sporidia from the terminal cysts. Probably they are more perennial in their character, and are a.s.similated more to the oogonia of _Cystopus_ and _Peronospora_, being rather of the nature of resting spores, inasmuch as the same threads usually bear the terminal fruits.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 64.--Sporidium of _Genea verrucosa_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 65.--Alveolate sporidium of _Tuber_.]

THECASPORES is a term which may be applied generally to all sporidia produced in asci, but these are in turn so innumerable and variable that it will be necessary to treat of some of the groups individually.

The _Thecaspores_, for instance, of the _Tuberacei_ offer several features whereby they may be distinguished from other thecaspores. The asci in which these sporidia are generated mostly partake of a broadly saccate, ovate form. The number of sporidia contained in an individual ascus is usually less than in the majority of the _Ascomycetes_, and the sporidia approximate more nearly to the globose form. Usually, also, they are comparatively large. Many have been figured by Corda[C]

and Tulasne.[D] Three types of spores may be said to prevail in the _Tuberacei_: the smooth spored, the warted or spinulose, and the areolate. The first of these may be represented by the _Stephensia bombycina_, in which the globose sporidia are quite smooth and colourless. The warted sporidia may be observed in _Genea verrucosa_, the spinulose in _Tuber nitidum_, and the areolate are present in _Tuber aestivum_ and _Tuber excavatum_, in which the epispore is divided into polygonal alveoli, bounded by thin, membranaceous, prominent part.i.tions. This form of sporidium is very beautiful. In all no special provision is made for the dissemination of the sporidia, as, from their subterranean habit, none would be available save the ultimate dissolution of the external integuments. As they are greedily devoured by several animals, it is possible that they may be dispersed through the excrements.

In the _Perisporiacei_ the perithecium has no proper orifice, or ostiolum, for the discharge of the mature sporidia, which are usually small, and are disseminated by the irregular rupture of the somewhat fragile conceptacles. The asci are usually more or less saccate, and the sporidia approximate to a globose form. The asci are often very diffluent. In _Perisporium vulgare_ the ovate brown sporidia are at first, and for some time, attached together in fours in a concatenate or beaded manner. In some species of _Erysiphei_ the conceptacle encloses but a single sporangium, in others several, which are attached together at the base. In some species the sporangia contain two, in others four, in others eight, and in others numerous sporidia.

In _Chaetomium_ the asci are cylindrical, and in most cases the coloured sporidia are lemon-shaped. When the conceptacles are fully matured, it is commonly the case that the asci are absorbed and the sporidia are free in the interior of the conceptacles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 66.--Asci, sporidia, and paraphyses of _Ascobolus_ (Boudier).]

Of the fleshy _Discomycetes_ the genus _Peziza_ may be taken as the type. If the structure which prevails in this genus be brought to mind, it will be remembered that the hymenium lines an expanded cup, and that the asci are packed together, side by side, with their apices outwards, and their bases attached to a substratum of cells which form the inner layer of the receptacle. The sporidia are usually eight in each ascus, either arranged in single or double rows, or irregularly grouped together. The asci are produced in succession; the later, pressing themselves upwards between those previously developed, cause the rupture of the mature asci at the apex and the ejection of the sporidia with considerable force. When a large _Peziza_ is observed for a time a whitish cloud will be seen to rise suddenly from the surface of the disc, which is repeated again and again whenever the specimen is moved. This cloud consists of sporidia ejected simultaneously from several asci. Sometimes the ejected sporidia lie like frost on the surface of the disc.

Theories have been devised to account for this sudden extrusion of the sporidia, in _Ascobolus_, and a few species of _Peziza_, of the asci also, the most feasible one being the successive growth of the asci; contraction of the cup may also a.s.sist, as well as some other less potent causes. It may be remarked here that the sporidia in _Peziza_ and _Helotium_ are mostly colourless, whilst in _Ascobolus_ they pa.s.s through pink to violet, or dark brown, and the epispore, which is of a waxy nature, becomes fissured in a more or less reticulated manner.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 67.--Sporidium of _Ostreichnion Americanum_.]

The sporidia in _Hysterium_ proper are usually coloured, often multiseptate, sometimes fenestrate, and occasionally of considerable size. There is no evidence that the sporidia are ever excluded in the same manner as in _Peziza_, the lips closing over the disc so much as to prevent this. The diffusion of the sporidia probably depends on the dissolution of the asci, and hence they will not be widely dispersed, unless, perhaps, by the action of rain.

In _Tympanis_, asci of two kinds have been observed in some species; one kind containing an indefinite number of very minute bodies resembling spermatia, and the other octosporous, containing sporidia of the usual type.

The _Sphaeriacei_ include an almost infinite variety in the form and character of the sporidia. Some of these are indefinite in the number contained in an ascus, although the majority are eight, and a few less. In the genera _Torrubia_ and _Hypocrea_ the structure differs somewhat from other groups, inasmuch as in the former the long thread-like sporidia break up into short joints, and in the latter the ascus contains sixteen subglobose or subquadrate sporidia. Other species contain linear sporidia, which are often the length of the ascus, and may either be simple or septate. In _Sphaeria ulnaspora_ the sporidia are abruptly bent at the second joint. Shorter fusiform sporidia are by no means uncommon, varying in the number of septa, and in constriction at the joints in different species. Elliptic or ovate sporidia are common, as are those of the peculiar form which may be termed sausage-shaped. These are either hyaline or coloured of some shade of brown. Coloured sporidia of this kind are common in _Xylaria_ and _Hypoxylon_, as well as in certain species of the section _Superficiales_. Coloured sporidia are often large and beautiful: they are mostly of an elongated, elliptical form, or fusiform. As noteworthy may be mentioned the sporidia of _Melanconis lanciformis_, those of _Valsa profusa_, and some species of _Ma.s.saria_, the latter being at first invested with a hyaline coat. Some coloured sporidia have hyaline appendages at each extremity, as in _Melanconis Berkeleii_, and an allied species, _Melanconis bicornis_, from the United States, also some dung _Sphaeriae_, as _S. fimiseda_, included under the proposed genus _Sordaria_.[E] Hyaline sporidia occasionally exhibit a delicate bristle-like appendage at each extremity, as in the _Valsa thelebola_, or with two additional cilia at the central constriction, as in _Valsa taleola_. A peculiar form of sporidium is present in certain species of _Sphaeria_ found on dung, for which the generic name of _Sporormia_ has been proposed, in which the sporidium (as in _Perisporium vulgare_) consists of four coloured ovate joints, which ultimately separate. Multiseptate fenestrate sporidia are not uncommon in _Cucurbitaria_ and _Pleospora_, as well as in _Valsa fenestrata_ and some other species. In the North American _Sphaeria putaminum_ the sporidia are extraordinarily large.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 68.--Ascus and sporidia of _Hypocrea_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 69.--Sporidium of _Sphaeria ulnaspora_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 70.--Sporidia of _Valsa profusa_ (Currey).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 71.--Sporidia of _Ma.s.saria foedans_. 400.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 72.--Sporidium of _Melanconis bicornis_, Cooke.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 73.--Caudate sporidia of _Sphaeria fimiseda_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 74.--Sporidia of _Valsa thelebola_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 75.--Sporidia of _Valsa taleola_. 400.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 76.--Sporidium of _Sporormia intermedia_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 77.--Asci and sporidia of _Sphaeria_ (_Pleospora_) _herbarum_.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 78.--Sporidium of _Sphaeria putaminum_. 400.]

The dissemination of the sporidia may, from ident.i.ty of structure in the perithecium, be deemed to follow a like method in all. When mature, they are in a great measure expelled from the mouth of the perithecia, as is evident in species with large dark sporidia, such as exist in the genera _Hypoxylon_, _Melanconis_, and _Ma.s.saria_. In these genera the sporidia, on maturity, may be observed blackening the matrix round the mouths of the perithecia. As moisture has an evident effect in producing an expulsion of sporidia by swelling the gelatinous nucleus, it may be a.s.sumed that this is one of the causes of expulsion, and therefore of aids to dissemination. When _Sphaeriae_ are submitted to extra moisture, either by placing the twig which bears them on damp sand, or dipping one end in a vessel of water, the sporidia will exude and form a gelatinous bead at the orifice. There may be other methods, and possibly the successive production of new asci may also be one, and the increase in bulk by growth of the sporidia another; but of this the evidence is scanty.

Finally, OOGONIA may be mentioned as occurring in such genera as _Peronospora_ amongst moulds, _Cystopus_ amongst Uredines, and the _Saprolegniaceae_ amongst the _Physomycetes_. The zoospores being furnished with vibratile cilia, are for some time active, and need only water in which to disseminate themselves, and this is furnished by rain.

We have briefly indicated the characteristics of some of the more important types of spores to be found in fungi, and some of the modes by which it is known, or presumed, that their dissemination takes place. In this summary we have been compelled to rest content with suggestions, since an exhaustive essay would have occupied considerable s.p.a.ce. The variability in the fruit of fungi, in so far as we have failed to demonstrate, will be found exhibited in the ill.u.s.trated works devoted more especially to the minute species.[F]