( 53 ) 



little hills with a liiihter-cülourcd toj). Tiic earliest a|)i)cm-aiic*o was 

 iji the (lislies filled willi forest-soil and placed in daylight at lo" C, 

 whereas a leinperatiire of 22° C. seemed to have liiiidered develop- 

 ment. The enltnre in sand always remained backward. The hills 

 gradnally assnmed the shape of little rods, hut took 3 — 4 months to 

 reach the aj^pearance of thin little stems or threads, hent down 

 over the snrface. These latter moved in the direction of light. 



The nnmher of threads varied widely for the different grains 

 (Fig. 2 and 5), bnt did not exceed 20. The progress of the growth 

 was at first very small indeed (2 millimeters in 40 days) and was 

 even insignificant l)etAveen Nov. 1902 and Fehr. ilUKi. Pmt ilien the 

 threads rapidly grew in lengtli and in Mai'ch ineasiired as iniicli as 

 6 centimeters. 



After the thickness of the spronts had very long reniaiiuMJ tmchanged, 

 at last (in Maivh) a distinct swelling appeared at their top, which 

 at first club-shaped i-onnded and closed, soon divided into a somewhat 

 inflated neck (apophysis) and a broader disc-shaped terminal j)iece, 

 which latter could easily be recognised as an open shallow apothecium 

 with the e{\ge slightly bent inward (Fig. 8). The coi-rectness of 

 this view appeared when the miscroscopical examination had revealed 

 the presence of spore-bearing asci and paraphyses in the disc (Fig. 9). 



A single sclerotium appeared to be able to bear sonie six well- 

 developed apothecia and besides some dwarfisli rods. 



Unbnried Sclei-otia do not develop, although they remain resting 

 on the bed of mycelium-threads which pi-oduced them, rulliu-es in 

 Petri-dishes were mostly spoiled In* bacteria. 



Bits of a fruit-stem, grown from a Sclerotium buried in humus, 

 when i)laced on malt-gelatine gave origin to the develoi)ment of 

 white pads, which in their turn sometimes produced new Sclerotia 

 in a week's time. Bits of white Sclerotial flesh behaved similarly. 



The fungus-generation grows very rapidly on malt-gelatine as 

 well as on bits of tobaccoplants at 22° C, though its temperature 

 optimum is at about 24° C. At 37° C. the growth is arrested. 

 Between 15° and 20° C. the development is still satisfactory. 



ÏY. ANATOMICAL INVESTIGATION. 



The mouldy threads which in the field develop on the surface of 

 green parts of |)lants and which afterwards |)roduce the Sclerotia, 

 grow ec[nally in all directions and so gradually form white discs, of 

 increasing diameter, finally reaching an average breadth of 2 centi- 

 meters. These threads are colourless. 2 {i tick, much ramified, repea- 



