226 COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY OF FUNGI 



Neurospora, Peckiella and Neocosmospora. Melanospora and Neurospora 

 are saprophytic on all possible decaying substrates of animal and plant 

 origin, and parasitic on other fungi. On their substrate they form a 

 brownish or whitish, often felty tissue; occasionally the hyphae intertwine 

 to form an enormous mass of small bulbils which, where the perfect form 

 is unknown, are assigned to the imperfect genus Papulaspora (Hotson, 

 1912). Vincens (1917) regards these bulbils in part as undeveloped 

 perithecia. 



Melanospora Mangini, M. globosa and Sphaeroderma bulbillifera have 

 unicellular, hyaline conidia borne in chains on small phialides (Oospora 

 or Spicaria type). M. marchica, M. globosa and Sphaeroderma bulbillifera 

 also form dark-colored gemmae or bulbils, whose forms are reminiscent 

 of the smut spores of Tuburcinia. 



As in the Aspergillaceae, M. parasitica (Kihlman, 1883) and M. 

 Zobelii (Nichols, 1896), parasitic on other fungi, and the saprophytic M. 

 marchica (Neger, 1914) form two copulation branches which, as in Peni- 

 cillium " crustaceum," intertwine helically. The saprophytic M. globosa 

 and Sphaeroderma bulbillifera, as in Aspergillus herbariorum, form a helical 

 ascogonium up whose side the antheridium climbs. The cytological 

 relationships are unknown; apparently the asci, at least in M. parasitica, 

 M. Zobelii and M . Mangini, do not arise from ascogenous hyphae but a 

 cell of the ascogonium divides in all three dimensions and the asci develop 

 from cells of this complex. The hyphal cells are multinucleate. 



The mature perithecia generally have a one-layered wall and a very 

 long neck, through which the brownish spore mass is pressed, following 

 the degeneration of the asci. The hyphal felt under the perithecia 

 thickens to a subiculum, then to a loose and finally to a fleshy stroma, on 

 which rest the perithecia singly or in groups. 



Neurospora, which differs from Melanospora by black perithecia, 

 absence of the long, fimbriate beak and its persistent asci, shows some 

 resemblance to the Sordariaceae. Melanospora Mangini and related 

 species show many characters in common with this genus and perhaps 

 should be considered here rather than in Melanospora, where they form a 

 very aberrant type. Melanospora destruens (Shear, 1917), on cranberries, 

 also shows many characters similar to those of this genus. The conidial 

 stages of Neurospora sitophila have usually been referred to Monilia 

 sitophila or related species which appear as cushions of orange to pale 

 salmon, oidia occasionally causing severe damage to the baking industry. 



The development and cytology of this group has been little studied 

 except for the reports of Moller (1901), although an extensive investi- 

 gation is in progress by B. 0. Dodge. Melanspora Mangini (Vincens, 

 1917) and Neurospora erythraea form only one copulation branch, origin- 

 ally three to five celled (as in Aspergillus flavus and A. fumigatus), which 

 coils helically or in an irregular tangle and is surrounded by sheath 



