2 
176 DopcE: METHODS OF CULTURE OF ASCOBOLACEAE 
It is not always possible to trace the connection between the 
trichogyne and the antheridial conidium. In some cases the end 
of the trichogyne was quite plainly visible but the connection 
with the conidium could not be found. FIG. 35 represents a 
vigorously growing young ascocarp. The trichogyne (J) is very 
close to the long-stalked conidium (m). Fic. 40 shows a type 
in which the whole system is closely twisted into a tangled mass 
of hyphae, yet the trichogyne (/) is plainly seen coiled about a 
conidium (at m). 
We have seen that the ascocarp originates as the result of the _ 
germination of a female conidium, the formation of a stalk coil, 
ascogonial coil, and a trichogyne. Whether fertilization regularly 
takes place by the fusion of the trichogyne with the second 
conidium is a question that can be determined only after further 
investigation. 
In all the cultures containing ascocarps may be found a struc: 
ture that at first sight might be taken for the stalk coil of the 
archicarp. It is, however, quite different in that it originates 48 
a branch from a mycelial hypha, and after making a loose irregular 
coil of two or three turns sends off branches from various cells. It 
very frequently produces conidia either on short stalks arising 
from its cells (FIG. 48) or at the tip end of the coil (FIG. 47). Such 
coils have not been found in cultures not producing ascocarps, but 
are very common wherever fruits are being formed. They may 
be rudimentary archicarps. 
One marked feature in connection with the formation of the 
vegetative portion of the ascocarp, is the presence of the hypha 
referred to above (FIG. 33, 35, 42) as arising from the stalk of 
the conidium that produces the archicarp. This hypha may 
apparently in some cases, grow out of the conidium itself (FIG. 37) 
44) or from the posterior cells of the stalk of the oogonium (FIG. 41) 
In either case it curves sharply over and extends along the coils 
of the ascogonium, coming to an end in the region of the tricho- 
gyne. This hypha and the stalk coil are still plainly visible in all 
young ascocarps, even after they have. become comparative) — 
well developed. No fusion was observed between this hypha and 
the trichogyne, although its structure and location might lead 
one to suspect that its function was not merely vegetative- 
