6 Transactions. — Zoology. 



irregularly arranged. The pink colour is now more exten- 

 sively developed and shades into a brown, the white being 

 limited to the axils of the branches. These changes are con- 

 nected with the maturity of the fungus. In addition to the 

 main post-cephalic bundle of hyphae, other smaller ones, in 

 the older specimens, issue from the joints of the legs and 

 from the sides of some of the segments. 



A still further stage in maturity was represented by a 

 dried specimen given to me by Mr. Hamilton. Here several 

 long main stems issue behind the head, and one behind the 

 pronotum, and run side by side directly forward. These are 

 less branched than in my specimen. 



A comparison of the mature condition of G. sinclairii with 

 that of G. hugclii shows very remarkable and easily recognis- 

 able differences (quite apart from the absence of branching in 

 the latter), illustrating two distinct methods of spore-formation. 



If an aerial fructifying branch of G. hugelii be examined 

 even with the naked eye, it is seen to terminate in a long, 

 velvety, thickened region, sharply marked off from the more 

 woody base or stalk. This upper region owes its velvety 

 appearance to a vast number of closely set yellowish vesicles 

 (or perithecia), each of which, on further examination, may be 

 found to contain eight long filamentous spores packed side by 

 side. But the closest and most careful supei^ficial examina- 

 tion of G. sinclairii shows nothing of the kind ; there are no 

 perithecia, the surface of the brown-pink region is quite 

 smooth. If, however, this fungus be submitted to micro- 

 scopical examination, either by the simple method of teasing 

 up with needles, or, better, by putting sections across it 

 with a razor, it will be found that below this smooth surface, 

 formed of closely arranged fungal hyphae, innumerable spores 

 occur, but of quite a different size and shape and arrangement. 

 These spores are short and oval, quite irregularly arranged 

 amongst the hyphae. Further, they are produced in a manner 

 quite different from that exhibited by G. hugelii. In fact, 

 these two species of New Zealand Gonhjccps illustrate the 

 two chief modes of reproduction by spore-formation recognised 

 by botanists as occurring in the group of fungi, and which 

 generally occur in two different stages in the life-history of 

 one and the same species of fungus. 



The two different modes of spore-formation yield different 

 kinds of spores — (1) Ascosi^ores, formed by subdivision of the 

 ]n-otoplasin inside a single cell or " ascus " ; (2) GonidiosporeSy 

 iornied by constriction of a hypha, so as to form a row of 

 spores arranged more or less like a string of pearls or beads. 



Without entering into further details, it must suffice to- 

 state that the fructification of most of the species of Gordy- 

 ceps with which we are acquainted is known only in the 



