— 419 — 



It is a difficiill task to decide in which family Heleococcum 

 (and Testudina) are to be included. When following the classifica- 

 tion of Ed. Fischer in Engler & Prantl "Naturliche Pflanzenfa- 

 inilien" I, 1, 1896, both forms have to be classed among the 

 Plectascineæ, to which Ed. Fischer refers the famihes Gymno- 

 ascaceæ, Aspergillaceæ, Onygenaceæ, Elaphomycetaceæ and Terfe- 

 ziaceæ, the common feature of which is that the asci He pro- 

 miscuously in the ripe perithecium. 



Heleococcum cannot however be included in any of tliese 

 families. It certainly approaches to the Aspergillaceæ in the 

 structure of its perithecium, but dillers in its two-celled spores 

 and in the faet that conidia are entirely wanting. 



I prefer therefore, as Clements in his "'Genera of Fungi" 1909, 

 to consider the Perisporiaceæ more comprehensively and to in- 

 clude the Aspergillaceæ in this family, being recognizable by its 

 globular, membranaceous or coriaceous perithecia without any 

 apical pore. Heleococcum is then naturally placed in this family, 

 where it together with Testudina forms a connective link between 

 the Aspergillus ( Eurotium) on the one hånd and the typical Peri- 

 sporieae on the other. 



The ripe ascospores already germinate in 24 hours after being 

 sown in a hanging drop of sweet wort (Fig. 2 a). When the 

 germination takes place at a rather low temperature in which the 

 development of bacteria in the culture is repressed, while the 

 fungus is not affected, large myceliums can grow out. They consist 



Fig. 2. 



a) Germinating ascospores ( x 650). b) Threads of mycelium with series oi' 



oil drops (x 650). c) brownish. swelled cells of older mycelium. 



