THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY. 



74 



grasses, and sometimes upon sedges. Many allied forms are extremely com- 

 mon on these large groups of plants. As in all fungi, the plant starts as 

 a minute spore. In moist, warm weather this spore germinates and sends 

 out a small, thread-like process, the mycelium. If a suitable food suppl) 

 is found— a head of rye, for examples-tins mycelium increases rapidly, and 

 gradually works its way into the fresh and juicy kernels of the rye, robbing 

 the nourishment of the rye in order to build itself. While in this stage 

 it is soft and gelatinous, usually a pale yellow, and sweet and attractive 

 to some insects. Botanists give this stage a distinct name, calling it SpM- 

 celia segetum. The microscope shows that this brownish or yellowish spha- 

 celia is made up of a mesh of mycelium threads and a number of small 

 round bodies (the conidia), borne on elongated I. ranches. These conidia 

 are capable of producing infection and perfecting the sclerotium stage. 



This soft stage does not lasl long, for, as the mycelium grows, it re- 

 places more and more of the tissue of the rye, becomes darker in color, until 

 finally it is a dee]) violet-brown, and gets much harder. In this stage al- 

 most the entire grain is replaced by the growing tube-like cells of the fun- 

 gus (the sclerotium), the result I icing a growth larger than the normally 

 developed grain. During this, the resting stage, the ergot should be gath- 

 ered, slightly dried, and then kept from further drying and from the 

 ravages of insects. 



After a varying length of time (from two to five months), the ergot, if 

 hit in the fields, may send up a number of small column-like masses, bear- 

 ing at the apices little spherical knobs resembling pin-heads. These are 

 the fruit -bearing bodies. They show in the surface a great numbefr of mi- 

 nute pin-point openings, which lead into hollow conceptaeles, called the 

 peril hecia. These perithecia contain a number of minute flask-like bodies, 

 the asci, in each of which are eight long, rod-like spores. These spores are 

 capable of starting over again the life cycle of the fungus. It is during 

 the stage of the ripening of the heads of the perithecia that the sclerotium 

 shrivels and loses its valuable constituents; hence the necessity of gathering 

 it in the resting stage. 



Ergot is distributed largely, being found in Middle Europe, in Southern 

 Paissia, Spain, Northwestern Africa, India, the Canary Islands and Peru. 

 It is common in Norway, and also in the Faro Islands, and is found on 

 high mountains and in deep valleys. 



COLLECTION. 



The ergot is gathered shortly after the ripening of the rye, and th 

 affected grains arc picked singly from the spike. The greatest amount 

 comes from Bussia and Spain, and the Tinted States is the largest con- 

 sumer. . _ .. 



