246 RESEARCHES ON FUNGI 



apart. The group of eight spores is attached to the ascus lid 

 by means of a fine, somewhat granular filament which has the 

 appearance of a protoplasmic bridle. A row of granules can be 

 seen passing down the middle of the gelatinous cap of each spore, 

 so that it seems probable that the filament is continued downwards 

 from the topmost to the bottom-most spore (Fig. 79, E). It seems 

 not unlikely that the row of spores is fixed to the sides of the 

 ascus by other protoplasmic bridles, but I have not been able to 

 discover them. The fine terminal filament is very transparent, and 

 it may be on this account that it has hitherto been overlooked. 

 It can be made more prominent by treatment with 1 per cent, 

 corrosive sublimate. From the foregoing, it is clear that in Peziza 

 repanda the spores are not freely floating in the ascus sap as 

 de Bary supposed was the case in Discomycetes generally, but 

 are carefully anchored in position by one or more special proto- 

 plasmic filaments. This being so, one can easily understand how 

 it is that the spores keep near the end of the ascus during the 

 stretching period, and there is no need of the current hypothesis 

 to explain the phenomenon. Lack of material has prevented me 

 from investigating the extent to which protoplasmic bridles are 

 used for anchoring the spores in the asci of Discomycetes generally, 

 but it seems probable that this method of spore fixation will be 

 found to be of very common occurrence. 



There can be no doubt that in Peziza repanda the eight spores 

 in each ascus are attached together. They always appear to be in 

 intimate contact with one another, but that they are really attached 

 to one another may be shown in the following manner. A section 

 through the hymenium (Fig. 79, C) is mounted in water. A strong 

 solution of grape sugar or sodium chloride is then run under the 

 cover-glass of the preparation, with the result that the turgor of 

 the asci becomes reduced. When this has happened a solution 

 of iodine is run under the cover-glass. The iodine on coming in 

 contact with the asci causes them to explode, but since the pressure 

 of the ascus sap has been reduced, the explosions are comparatively 

 weak. Sometimes the spores are not all shot out of the ascus 

 (Fig. 79, G), and in some cases they are only just ejected from the 

 ascus mouth. When the latter has happened, one sometimes sees 



