64 SEAVER: STUDIES IN PYROPHILOUS FUNGI 
New York Botanical Garden. As it had been some time since 
the fungus had been under cultivation at the Garden, the spores 
were apparently not very numerous in the air, for after several 
days the plant failed to appear. Search was then made for some 
recently collected spores for inoculation. No attempt had been 
made to keep the spores for this purpose and the youngest speci- 
mens available in the herbarium of the Garden had been collected 
nearly three years before. The soil was inoculated with these 
aged spores, and within a few days a good growth of Pyronema was 
produced, the infection apparently proceeding from the point of 
inoculation. As this experiment did not prove with certainty 
that the old spores germinated, it was decided to test them out in 
hanging drop culture. 
A complete history of the specimen used in the above experi- 
ment is as follows. ' In the spring of 1909, a pile of leaves and brush 
was burned, and this opportunity was taken to test the growth of 
Pyronema under natural conditions, as the fungus was at that time 
under cultivation in the laboratory. Spores were taken from the 
plants grown in the laboratory and with these the burned place 
was inoculated. In a reasonably short time our burned place 
showed a good growth of the fungus. One good specimen was 
collected and placed in the herbarium of the Garden in an ordi- 
nary paper packet. In January 1912 the spores from this speci- 
men were used for the experiment described above, and while 
many of the spores failed to germinate, there was enough growth 
in a hanging drop culture to form a web of mycelium over the 
cover glass on which the spores were planted. 
The spores of Pyronema are rather thin-walled and are not 
the kind of spores, so far as general appearance is concerned, 
that would be expected to keep their viability for a long period 
of time. Also, it would naturally be thought that spores which 
are adapted to withstand long periods of unfavorable conditions 
as resting spores would not germinate readily when fresh. The 
spores of this fungus are an exception in both of these particulars, 
for the fresh spores germinate very readily in hanging drop cul- 
ture and very old spores germinate with equal facility; also, the 
walls of the spores do not appear to be thicker than the walls of 
the young mycelium and show no protective structures. 
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