^^ ASCOMYCETES 



of stalked stromata with bright colored heads bearing embedded 

 perithecia. The perithecia are pear-shaped and perforated by an 

 ostiole at the narrow end ; the spores are filiform. When these 

 germinate in the pistils of the rye flowers they produce a mass of 

 mycelium that fills every part of the kernel and forms a white 

 covering from which conidia are produced ; this is known as 

 the sphacelia stage ; with these a saccharine fluid is developed 

 which is attractive to bees ; in this way the fungus is spread from 

 one flower to another, the bees carrying the conidia Avhich are 

 mixed with this fluid, the conidia soon germinating and producing 

 new centres for the ergot. The sclerotium then forms in the midst 

 of the mvcelium-infested kernel and reaches its dormant condition 

 by the time the grain is ripe. 



From the ergot of rye a powerful poisonous drug is produced 

 which is frequently used in medicine. A number of our common 

 grasses are affected with ergot but the stromatic stage has been 

 little studied. It is supposed that cattle feeding on the ergot Avill 

 become poisoned from its efl"ects, the disease being known as 



ergotism. 



Cordyceps is a genus of fungi somewhat allied to the last, but 

 instead of growing from sclerotia it becomes parasitic either upon 

 insects or upon truffle-like subterranean fungi {ElapJiomyces). The 

 most common form on insects is a club-like body an inch or more 

 long of a cinnabar red color which attacks the pupae of various 

 moths buried beneath dead leaves, the club rising above the sur- 

 face. Other species attack the larvae of beetles and a minute 

 one is found on scale insects. In New Zealand a similar fungus 

 attacks living caterpillars which carry the fungus on their backs for 

 a considerable time, before it results in their death. The forms 

 growing on truffles are somewhat fleshy structures with a conical 

 stroma which pushes up above the surface of the ground. The 

 American species of this group have never been thoroughly studied. 



A number of other interesting genera commonly occur. One 

 (^Epichloe typhinii) forms a whitish or yellowish covering on the 

 culms of various grasses causing them to appear like miniature 

 spikes of cat-tails ; another {Hypocreelld) forms tubercles on the 

 stems of cane {Anmdinaria) ; the members of a third genus {Hy- 

 poinyces) are parasitic on various forms of the higher fleshy, corky 

 or gelatinous fungi, one of which attacks species of Lactarius trans- 



