jo4 



DIVISION r. — GENERAL M< >k rjiai.OGV. 



mentioned also the envelope-cells on the spore-clusters of Urocystis, which will be 

 described in Chapter V", but not the germ-tubes which appear inside the ascus 

 in Sphaeria praecoxj and which were des< ribed by Tulasne ' as filiform appendages. 



We have already spoken, in com urn nee with ZopPs views, of the physiological 

 import of the gelatinous append. organs which ma} i to attach the asco- 



spores to one another and to the apex of the expanding ascus. This is evident 

 in the case of the Sordarieae, in which the spores, each with its dark episporfum, lie in 

 a row in tl tie behind the other and in contact with one another, and the 



conical gelatinous processes on each spore are firmly atta< hed to those of its next 



FIG. 52- Sordariafimiseda, dc-N.it. Development of the spores, the succes in the order of the letters, a—j 



ore but with the yi parent and 



:li it^ meinl i a. 390 



hbour or are twisted round them. How far the function of these appendages is 

 the same in other cases is a question which requires further careful investigation. 



Of the chemical ''nafurt of the spore-membrane only some isolated facts are known, 

 and the subject is still in need of more thorough examination. Hoffmann 2 has 

 collected tog< ther a varii ty of details on this sub} 



Most spore-membranes, according to the concurrent testimony of all observers, 

 are distinguished by their gr< at power of resisting de< i imposition and the influence of 

 strong reagents, more especially concentrated mineral acids. Many are only slightly 



' arp. I p. So. 

 - Pringsaeim's Jahrb. II. p. 308. 



