320 FETCH : 



produced, but in the interior of the sphere the chains consist 

 of oval or cylindrical cells 8-20 X 5 t^. As a rule, the chains 

 of spherical cells increase bj^ budding at the apex only, while 

 the chains of oval cells are able to produce in addition new 

 branches immediately below each septum. The two primary 

 branches which arise from one stalk hypha may produce 

 spherical and oval cells respectively, or a branch which is 

 producing spherical cells may give rise to side branches which 

 form oval cells only. But once a branch has begun the 

 production of the latter, it does not revert to spherical cell 

 formation. It is quite certain that the two kinds of cells arise 

 from the same mycelium, and therefore that the white sphere 

 is not a mixture of two different fungi. Jumelle and Perrier 

 de la Bathie state that the oval cells measure 12 X Q\k and 

 the globose cells 18-20 [x. 



WTien the sphere is crushed, the chains of oval cells dissociate, 

 and the preparation is filled with innumerable " conidia" — 

 like bodies. Since these bodies readily germinate and produce 

 m3'cclium in water or nutrient media, the application of the 

 term " conidia" to them may be regarded as correct. On the 

 other hand, the spherical cells do not separate and do not 

 proflucc hypha; in nutrient media. The conidia of the spheres 

 found in termite nests in Madagascar are said to be incapable 

 of germination, but it would apj^ear that the experiment was 

 attempted in France with dried material, since it is stated 

 elsewhere that a gro\vth of mycelium was obtained when the 

 whole sphere was placed in a nutrient medium. 



Holtermann regarded these spheres as identical in all the 

 nests he examined, whether in Ceylon, Java, Singapore, or 

 Borneo. It is, I think, clear from the description and figures 

 of the Madagascar species that the latter is identical with that 

 found in (^'ylon ; and from Berkeley's figures the Ceylon 

 species is certaini}' the same as that found in India. Furthcr- 

 more, IViigardlrs description and figures of the fungus on the 

 combs of T. viilf/nris in the Sudan agree well with the Ceylon 

 species. I have not been able to find any reference, in the 

 literature at my disposal, to any similar fungus in termite 

 nests in Australia or America, but in all the coinitries in which 

 the fungus on tiie termite comb lias been carefully examined 



