140 DopGE: METHODS OF CULTURE OF ASCOBOLACEAE 
the group, growing them as far as possible in pure cultures, thus 
making possible a more extended and comparative study of the 
method of the origin of the ascocarp in the endeavor to furnish 
further data for an understanding of the relationships existing 
within and between the various groups of the Ascomycetes. 
One obstacle in the way of a more thorough study of the life 
history of the species of this group has been the great difficulty en- 
countered in all attempts to germinate the ascospores and thus 
obtain pure cultures in artificial media. I have, therefore, given 
this phase of the question special attention in my work. 
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 
The literature relating to the question of sexuality in the 
Ascomycetes has been many times thoroughly reviewed in recent 
years. I need only refer to the careful and critical papers of 
Wager (1899), Dangeard (1903, 1907), Vuillemin (1907), Claussen 
(1907), and Guilliermond (1908, 1910). Data in the literature 
bearing on the germination of the spores and the comparative 
morphology of the different forms of ascogonia occurring in the 
different genera of the Ascobolaceae have not been so thoroughly 
summarized, and I shall attempt to bring together the available 
material in this line. 
Coemans (1862) claimed that the spores of all species of 
Ascobolus germinate readily on moist slides and produce a my- — 
celium not unlike that of other fungi. He considered remarkable _ 
the great facility with which this mycelium produced such quanti- 
ties of Penicillium- or Torula-like conidia. 
Woronin (1866), who was unable to germinate the spores of 
Ascobolus, questioned the correctness of the account given by — 
Coemans. He described the initial organ of Lasiobolus pulcher- 
7 rimus as a vermiform body consisting of about ten or twelve large 
cells arising perpendicularly from a vegetative hypha and curving 
slightly to one side. The cells are rather dark colored, and if 
addition to the granular contents each cell has one or more vacuoles: 
As the vermiform body (scolecite) reaches maturity three or fouf — 
send out short sickle-shaped branches cut off from the pare? 
cells at the outer end are surrounded by several hyphae, which : 
hypha by septa, so that each branch consists of an oblong . 
