336 . THAXTER. 



enormously thickened; the hnnen being sometimes ahiiost obhter- 

 ated. These swollen terminations push out into the interhyphal 

 spaces of the middle zone, cur\ang outward or backward, and are 

 transformed to the mature spores. Sporulation seems to be more or 

 less simultaneous at a rather early stage of development, and the 

 enlargement of the orange sporocarp, after this has taken place, seems, 

 under favorable conditions, to be a relatively rapid process. 



The mature spores are very large, 200 X 200-415 X 380 n, spherical 

 to broadly ellipsoid, a thinner gelatinous exospore about 10 ^u thick and 

 continuous with the wall of the sporogenous filament, being at first 

 clearly distinguished from the very thick, continuous, laminated, 

 20-30 // thick (to 38 /x with KOH) endospore. The contents is rather 

 dense and finely granular, or jelly like in appearance, with larger oily 

 bodies here and there. The sporogenous filaments which can some- 

 times be traced a short distance even from mature spores, seem to be 

 simple and show no signs of any structure which might be regarded as 

 possibly conjugating elements; although it is by no means certain that 

 such organs might not possibly be recognizable in much earlier stages 

 then those which have been examined. Owing to secondary tangen- 

 tial growth of the sporocarp, the spores, as above mentioned, not only 

 tend to become discrete, and to arrange themselves in a single layer; 

 but the spaces in which they lie may become considerably enlarged, 

 so that they may lie in a loculus of considerable size, quite free, or 

 suspended by a Jew adherent radiating filaments, Figure 92. 



The spores, when they have been seen at all, have been variously 

 referred to as asci, perithecia, vesicles or even glands. In very well 

 matured individuals which have been slightly shrunken by alcohol, 

 the position of the spores may be indicated externally, even to the 

 naked eye, by slight corresponding ele\ations, which have very much 

 the appearance of perithecial ostioles; and it is therefore liqt so sur- 

 prising that, in the original description of the type, they shoiHd have 

 been spoken of as "pale perithecia filled with hyaline gelatine." 



Von Hohnel in his description, gives the first indication which has 

 been found in the literature, of what appears to be their true nature, 

 and includes what he regarded to be the new genus Endogonella among 

 the chlamydosporic types of the Endogoneae. Apart from the fact, 

 however, that the plant is described and represented upsidedowTi, it 

 answers in all particulars to GlazicUa vcsicjtlosa Berk. There is also 

 absolutelv no difference which I have been able to discover, between 

 Xylaria aurantiaca B. & C. collected by Wright in Cuba, and Berke- 

 ley's type collected in Brazil by Glaziou. It seems quite remarkable, 



