186 DopcGE: METHODS OF CULTURE OF ASCOBOLACEAE 
produced under different cultural conditions from those maintained 
in my experiments.* 
The archicarp is very similar to that of A. Wintert and A. 
immersus. The three regions, stalk, ascogonium, and tricho- 
gyne, are not as distinctly differentiated as in the archicarp of 
Ascophanus carneus. The archicarp arises from the mycelium 
and forms a spiral coil of three or four complete turns. Fic. 28 
is reconstructed from stained microtome sections. The few in- 
vesting hyphae arising from the stalk cells and growing up near 
the trichogyne, are not included in the drawing. The stalk is 
quite well marked, consisting of about four short cells. The com- 
plete archicarp consists of about twenty cells. 
GENERAL DISCUSSION 
It is probably true that many species of the Ascobolaceae are 
distributed by animals that have eaten food upon which the 
spores have been ejected. It has been shown by Janczewski, 
Massee, and others, that animal digestion may be an effective 
stimulus to germination, or at least that the spores are not kill 
by this treatment. It is well known that the spores of T° helebolus, 
Ascodesmis, and species of Rhyparobius will germinate in dung 
decoctions or even in tap water without special treatment. Copro- 
philous fungi such as Pilobolus, Gymnoascus, and Coprinus get mi- 
nate at ordinary temperatures; and it has not been proved that 7 
the species of Ascobolus, which have been thought to germinate — 
only after being digested by animals, may not germinate readi 
at ordinary temperatures after a sufficient resting period. During 
a resting period of several weeks or months the possibly necessary 
chemical changes leading up to germination might be effected by — 
natural agencies, such as the products of bacterial decomposition 
in the substratum, alternation of heat and cold, changes in condition 
of moisture, etc. My experiments show that occasionally the spores 
of a species will grow under conditions that are not, however, favor : 
able for a general germination. These exceptional cases mY c. 
count for the many contradictory statements that have been BY : 
* Oidia have been found in several later cultures, presumably of A- furfuracets a 
though they remained sterile and I have been unable to determine their identity 
with certainty. 
