AND CONTENTS OF THE MOUTH. 188 



Fourth Phase {Completed Aerial Vegetation: Fructification). — 

 In Figs. 10 — 13 ^^6 reproduced four specimens of fructifications, 

 taken from the pati?ia dentaria. In Fig. 10 are seen three isolated 

 "ears" (spices), stained with gentian violet; in Fig. 11, a tuft, 

 caught as the bird flies, stained with weak methyl violet ; in Fig. 

 12, a part of a more vigorous tuft, seen in profile, stained with 

 weak fuchsine ; and in Fig. 13, two fructifications, set on the same 

 tiny island of materia alba, stained with solution of iodine. The 

 Figures 10, 11, and 13 are drawn magnified to 1,250 diameters, 

 and the Fig. 12 to 850 diameters. 



The fertile filaments are at times partially straight, as in Fig. 

 10; at times bent (even occasionally tortuous, as in Fig. 13), and 

 are sometimes wanting, because the fructifications have been 

 carried away by mechanical force, although grouping together, as 

 in Fig. 12. In Fig. 10 are seen, in a, a, the gemmules of reserve 

 adhering to the walls ; in b are found the little spores properly 

 lodged ; but in b' we notice only five, the others having dropped. 

 In c the penultimate articulations of the stalk appear older and 

 woody ; the last is granular, like the two articulations on the apex 

 of the younger filament, d. 



The sporules, very small, round, brilliantly coloured, show 

 themselves in three vertical rows in all the specimens without 

 exception ; i.e., they never appear in two rows, whence we may 

 infer that they are, in fact, disposed in six longitudinal lines (or 

 series), for, if they w^ere only in four or five, they should, at times, 

 exhibit only two visible rows. 



In turning the micrometer screw, the cylindrical relief of the 

 " ears " appear manifest, for at a higher focus the sporules of the 

 middle row are better seen, and at a low focus those of the lateral 

 rows. In several specimens, especially when coloured with picric 

 acid, we can detect the prolongation of the stem into the interior 

 of the ear ; but it is not so with aniline colours, which render the 

 viscid substance (in which the sporules are suspended) opaque, 

 staining it with a weaker tint. But if, in the preparation, we sub- 

 stitute glycerine for water, the stalk, a long time afterwards, 

 reappears distinctly in all its length. 



At any rate, the movements given to the preparation with the 

 thumbs show that the stalk and the " ear " form a continuous 



