SEAVER: STUDIES IN PYROPHILOUS FUNGI 65 
The spores germinate by putting out a germ tube from each 
end, one end, however, growing much faster than the other. The 
young mycelium is very coarse, the diameters of the main branches’ 
being fairly constant. The whole mycelium is filled with vacuoles, 
giving it a characteristic appearance. The spore before germi- 
nating swells much, becoming large and very granular. The germ 
tube as it issues from the spore is slightly smaller in diameter 
than the spore but often swells to about the same diameter. 
The contents of the spore after germination are similar in appear- 
ance to the contents of the young mycelium, and there appears to 
be no difference between the wall of the old spore and that of the. 
young mycelium, the spore forming one segment in the growing 
mycelium, usually of a little larger diameter and shorter but often 
so nearly like the other segments of the mycelium that it is difficult 
to determine the position of the old spore. In some cases the 
spore seems to swell up and begin to grow by simply cutting off 
new segments at either end. 
The spores of Pyronema, as shown in the present experiment, 
will keep their viability for nearly three years; as to how much 
longer they will remain good we cannot at present say. Griffiths* 
in his work on Fimetariaceae (Sordariaceae) found one species 
in which the spores kept their viability for more than three 
and one-half years. 
The demonstration of the long viability of the spores of 
Pyronema is one more argument in favor of the introduction of 
this fungus into college and university courses in botany which 
deal with a general knowledge of the subject. The cultivation 
of the fungus requires no complicated technique, and the rapidity 
with which the plant grows would enable the student to study all 
of the stages from the germinating spore to the production of 
sex organs and mature ascocarps within a period of about ten 
days. Also, the asci of Pyronema when mounted in water illus- 
trate very nicely the common method of spore dissemination among 
the ascomycetes. 
__Claussent i in his recent paper on the development of Pyronema 
* Griffiths, D. The — American Sordariaceae. Mem. Torrey Club 11: 
1-134. pl. 1-19. 30M 
T Claussen, P. Zur pickiest der Ascomyceten, Pyronema con- 
fluens. Zeit. Bot. 4: 1-80. pl. 1-6. 190 
