DopGE: METHODS OF CULTURE OF ASCOBOLACEAE 167 
the oven. Two spores germinated (FIG. 27). The mycelium of 
this form is more delicate than that of the other species I have 
studied. 
AscopoLus LEVEILLEI var. AMERICANUS Cooke & Ellis. N. A. F. 
no. 1096. 
Iwas unable to germinate the spores in cultures run parallel 
with those of A. Winteri. Five inoculated plates of horse dung 
decoction agar heated to 65°-76° C. likewise gave negative results. 
ASCOBOLUS XYLOPHILUS Seaver. 
This species was collected by F. J. Seaver in Colorado during 
the summer of 1911. It is one of the few species of Ascobolus that 
are said to grow on wood. An agar medium containing a decoction 
of heated soil was used. Eight plates were inoculated with small 
Pieces of the dried ascocarps and heated to 55°-70° C. Only two 
germinated spores were found (FIG. 15). Small amounts of 
sodium carbonate were added to the medium, previously heated to 
only 55° C. and then reheated up to 70° C., with negative results. 
Another medium was made up with a decoction of decayed wood 
but this did not prove any more effective. 
THELEBOLUS sSTERCOREUS Tode. 
After two days, delicate growths of mycelium appeared in two 
cultures, described above, at several different points where the 
moculation with the ascocarps of A. xylophilus had been made. 
No germifiated spores of Ascobolus could be found at these points, 
but after eight days an abundant crop of the apothecia of Thelebolus 
Slercoreus appeared on this mycelium. The apothecia were ar- 
ranged in characteristic zones as figured by Ramlow (1906). The 
material in one plate was killed and imbedded for sectioning. The 
other plate continued to produce ascocarps for two months, re- 
maining Practically a pure culture of Thelebolus. Massee & Salmon 
(1902) and others have already pointed out that this species oc- 
“sionally produces more than one ascus in an ascocarp. Such 
abnormalities as the production of the large spherical ascus directly 
from a cell of the ascogonium at a time before any of the enveloping 
— become visible, were also observed. Ramlow (loc. cit.) 
eee at the spores germinated at ordinary temperatures. The 
stances under which the species appeared in my cultures 
