IIOTSOX. — ( I'l/nUK STtniES OF Fl'Nfil. 24') 



Plato 1). Ordinarily tlu-re are ahoiit one and a half to two turns in 

 the spiral, l)iit oeeasionally there are as many as four. If a lateral 

 hrancli fails to di\ide, as it often does, only one primordiuni is pro- 

 ducetl (Fij,Mire 4, Plate 1). Frecjuently after the first dichotoniy, 

 one of the branches does not divide aj^ain, hut coils up immediately, 

 while the other nuiy di\ ide once or twice before coiling -(Figures 2-3, 

 Plate 1). Thus, according to the number and regularity of these 

 dichotomous divisions, there may appear one, two, or more primordia 

 which are more or less closely related to each other. Usually, however, 

 the pedicels on which they are formed elongate, and thus they may 

 become separated from each other. When this primordiuni has made 

 about two turns, sometimes as many as four, small branches are pro- 

 duced from the sides of the coils (Figures 5-6, Plate 1), which at this 

 stage often become separated from each other, as shown in Figure 6. 

 It is, however, a very obscure structure, the further details of which 

 arc difficult to follow. 



Occasionally on media like potato, more frequently on bran, Spanish 

 chestnuts, sweet potato, etc., and quite freely on rat and dog dung, 

 little white patches of hyphae are seen scattered over the substratum. 

 These are the young apothecia. The fine, white, wool-like hyphae 

 become thickly matted together and form a white superficial dome- 

 shaped structure with fine filaments growing out on all sides (Figure?, 

 Plate 1), and asthese become older, they lose their contents and as- 

 sume a brownish color. Shortly a circular opening appears at the apex 

 (F'igure 8, Plate 1), apparently due to the rapid and extensive growth 

 of the inner portion of the apothecium. This opening gradually 

 increases in size, often exhibiting a conical depression in the center 

 which, as the hymenium enlarges, becomes flat and then slightly con- 

 vex. Microtome sections, made at the time of the opening of the 

 apothecium or shortly before, show the upper region closely crowded 

 with long narrow paraphyses, nearly imiform in thickness, which a 

 little later, slightly enlarge at the ends, forming the somewhat even 

 surface of the hymenium (Figures 9-10, Plate 1). 



A short distance below the center of the apothecium, when about 

 the age of that represented in Figure 8, Plate 1, a large cell containing 

 deeply staining material is seen in microtome sections. This appears 

 to be the ascogonium and from it very narrow hyphae, which also 

 stain deeply, grow up between the sterile cells of the apothecium, tmd 

 eventually produce the asci. At maturity the apothecium is brown- 

 ish, measuring 3-10 mm. in diameter and 3-5 mm. in height; often in 

 groups and occasionally with a short stem-like base. 



