PUFFING IN THE DISCOMYCETES 



251 



(3) the eight ascospores are all situated in the outer halves of the 

 asci ; (4) the terminal spore of each ascus has its upper end against 

 the operculum that will make its appearance when the ascus explodes; 

 (5) the spores in each and every ascus are all inchned upwards so 

 that the asci have a remarkably uniform appearance ; (6) the asci 

 are fully protuberant ; (7) the cells of the paraphyses contain dark 

 particles (these are red in hving sections) ; and (8) the asci do not 



a 

 



Fig. 121. — Sarcoscypha protracta. Surface views of tlie hymenimn before 

 and after spore-discharge. A and B correspond respectively with A 

 and B in Fig. 120. A, just before the fruit-body puffed : a, asci ; s, 

 ascospores, all obliquely situated with their upper ends pressing against 

 the future operculum ; c, the area of contact of a spore with the future 

 operculum ; p, the paraphyses. B, another surface view, similar to A, 

 but one second after puffing has taken place : p, the unaltered para- 

 physes ; a, the empty asci shrunken to three-quarters of their 

 original diameters ; o, the upward -looking openings of the asci (the oper- 

 cula attached to the upper rims of the openings are not here shown on 

 account of the small scale of the drawing). The positions of the asci 

 in both A and B, and also the ostioles in the asci of B, were drawn with 

 the camera lucida, while the spores and the areas c in A, as well as the 

 paraphyses in A and B, have been represented semi-diagrammatically. 

 Magnification, 267. 



contain any dark particles, but their spores enclose characteristic 

 oil-drops. 



In Fig. 120, B, the following points may be observed : (1) the asci 

 have contracted in length so that they are no longer protuberant ; { 2 ) the 

 asci have contracted to about three-quarters of their former diameter ; 

 (3) the ends of the asci are at the level, and not below the level, of the 

 ends of the paraphyses ; (4) the openings of the asci are all obhquely 

 situated and look upwards in the directions shown by the arrows ; 

 and (5) the opercula are all hinged in the same manner, i.e. each hinge 

 is on that side of the opening which is toward the base of the ascus. 



