8 



Nomenclature of Colors, 1st ed., PI. VII, No. 12), owing perhaps to the 

 brown ascospores which can be seen tlirough the transhicent "walls; 

 collapsing' irregularly (more or less) when empty, but not sinking in 

 regularly about the ostiolum after the manner of many iSTectrias; sur- 

 face slightly irregular and a little papillate, especially toward the apex, 

 by reason of the slight projection of single cells, not scaly, pruinose, 

 or hairy; wall distinctly parenchymatic, the irregularly polyhedral 

 cells with rounded angles and in the ventral portion about 8 to IG /< iu 

 diameter (PI. II, 5) ; usually no distinct neck until fully ripe, then fre- 

 quently a short neck (generally 30 to 40 // long, but shorter or longer, 

 sometimes even as long as 80 //, but never hairy or fimbriate at the 

 apex);' ostiolum closed by special cells (PI. II, 1) and indistinct until 

 fully ripe, then opening by solution, 30 to 50 n or more broad, bor- 

 dered by narrower cells; the neck lined internally by numerous hairs 

 (periphyses), 20 to 30 /; long, which project into the throat leaving only 

 a small opening (PI. II, 2). Asci 8-spored, numerous (75 to 100 or more), 

 cylindric, stipitate, the somewhat narrowly constricted base of variable 

 length, but usually equal to about one-eighth to one-third the length of 

 the spore-bearing part, the latter 70 to 100 /< long by 11 to 14 // broad 

 (usually 12 i.i broad), with aj)ices rounded and verj^ slightly, if at all, 

 thickened (PI. I, 3, 3; PI. Y, 2); usually crusliing out of the immature 

 perithecium with some part of the hypothecium in one or more adherent 

 masses (PI. I, 4), becoming so thin- walled as to be scarcely visible, and 

 when fully ripe frequently dissolving, leaving the free spores (PI. II, 4) 

 to escape through the stoma or through any part of the accidentally 

 ruptured wall as the gelatinous debris in the interior of the perithecium 

 expands by absorption of water, in which case the spores often adhere 

 to the exterior of the perithecium for some time in little irregular brown 

 masses (PI. I, la). In other cases (even on the same culture), the asci 

 retain their form and elasticity and the ripened ascospores are shot out 

 through the ostiolum to the distance of 3 to 8 millimeters. Para- 

 pliyses present (PI, I, 2; PI. V, 5) and often two or three times the 

 diameter of the asci, each composed of several roundish, oblong, or 

 irregular, thin-walled, loosely connected cells, nearly destitute of pro- 

 toplasm and readily overlooked (unstained, they are best seen by view- 

 ing the sections or crushed out material iu water with a very narrow 

 pencil of rays).- Ascospores (PI. I, -9, 5, 5, 6; PI, V, 2) in one row, when 

 ripe closely filling the ascus, globose to short elliptical, rarely ovate or 

 considerably longer than broad, continuous, rather thick-walled, color- 

 less until ripe, then light brown, in mass mummy brown (Ridgway's 

 Nomenclature, PI. Ill, No, 10), with a thick, distinctly wrinkled exo- 

 spore (more rarely smooth), variable in size, usually 10 to 12 // in diame- 



'Pure cultures from the same ascpspore yielded ripe periithecia with and without 

 beaks. 



'^Similar organs are present in many Nectriaceous fungi Avhicb have been described 

 as destitute of paraphyses. 



