2:5(i IKTCH : THE FTJNGI 



Srlerotia may be formed in these cultivations, either before 

 or after the production of conidia, though in the latter case 

 they are irregular. In one instance a piece of comb placed 

 undei a bell jar in the usual way developed upright stromata 

 in a few days. As these were not particularly required, the 

 cultivation was put aside. At the end of a fortnight small, 

 white, depressed, circular tufts of hyphae were observed: 

 these bore no conidia. and were regarded as an intrusive 

 growth. At the end of the third week they had become 

 spheres, 2 or '3 millimetres in diameter, at first with 

 a silvery coat, and then black. They were allowed to remain 

 on the comb for another week, though they were not then 

 united to it by any mycelium. They were then removed, and 

 two were placed on damp filter paper in a sterilized dish. I 

 was unfortunately absent during the next five days, but on 

 returning I found that one had produced two slender stromata 

 2 or 3 centimetres high and 1 to 2 millimetres in diameter, 

 and that the same structures were just developing from 

 the other. The conidiophores were identical with those 

 Formed on simple stromata on the comb, and a further 

 I mint of agreement was afforded by the fact that one 

 sclerotium bore unbranched Btromata, while those of the other 

 were feebly branched (fig. 28). 



A less regulai Bclerotium may also be formed after the 

 stroma has produced conidia; e.g. t in old cultivations which 

 have escaped the attacks of caterpillars, the bases of the 

 (tromata frequently become thickened. The best examples 

 of this occurred in a piece of comb, fully inhabited when 

 □ from the nest, which had been Lying on the verandah 



for about three months. I'mln sin h conditions the comb 



dries gradually without producing fungi, and the external 

 mycelium is eaten off by cockroaches. The piece in question 

 8 centimetres long, 5 centimetres broad, and 2 or 3 

 centimetres thick in the oentre. After being moistened 

 and placed ondei a i»<'ll jar, an extensive development of 

 simple stromata occurred, some of them 14 ems. high: the 



