244 PovaAH: A CRITICAL STUDY OF 
sporangia are formed; otherwise small forms are overgrown by 
the larger and more rapidly growing ones. 
Blakeslee (1904), in his epoch-making study on the Sexual 
Reproduction in the Mucorineae, demonstrates his skill as a 
master of culture technique. In addition to the usual methods 
of gross and single spore culture, he devised a novel procedure for 
isolation of the two (plus and minus) strains. This consisted 
in teasing out an immature zygospore and placing it on a nutrient 
suitable for growth. After many unsuccessful attempts he dis- 
covered cases in which growth from both suspensors occurred in 
sufficient amount so that they (both) could be transferred to a 
fresh culture. In his investigations he employed many different 
kinds of media among which may be mentioned fruits, egg, potato, 
milk, urine, and bread. 
It is difficult to appraise Lendner’s (1908) method, which he 
does not present in detail. Presumably he used single spore 
cultures, but in discussing his methods, although he speaks of 
“dilution methods in use in bacteriology,’’ he makes no mention 
of a single spore method. 
For isolating soil fungi, Jensen (1912) mentions several methods, 
among which is described an iron tube for taking soil samples. 
This, however, proved unavailable in frozen soil. Thus he dug 
a trench 24x 10x12 inches deep, and after removing the soil 
from the side of the trench with a sterile scalpel, he transferred 
the earth sample with the reflamed scalpel to a wide-mouthed 
bottle. In plating out his soil samples he either transferred 
particles of soil to poured plates directly, or else he made dilutions 
and then inoculated the poured plates with this dilution. He 
examined the inverted plates under the microscope, and when a 
germinating spore was found, he marked its location with a drop 
of India ink, cut it out, and transferred it to a new plate. 
As Bainier (1883) and Schostakowitsch (1896, 1897, 1898) do 
not discuss their culture method in any great detail, it is impossible 
to judge whether they used a single spore as a starting point for 
their cultures. Schostakowitsch appears to have used bread 
chiefly as a substratum, while Bainier mentions having employed 
horse dung and also various sugar solutions in addition to bread. 
Sumstine’s (1910) reference to his cultural data is so frag- 
