( 54 ) 



tedly sejitate, filled with a finely «jraiiiilated protoplasm and occasionally 

 accompanied by threads five times thicker, the significance of which 

 con Id not be discovered. 



From the thinner, creeping fibres others rise up on which either 

 singly or in small clusters, flask- or cone-sha[)ed organs develop, 

 whose fnnction is to split off conidia and \\ Inch hence deserve the 

 name of conidiopiiores. They are on an average 15 fi high and 

 3.5 (I broad and consist of a thick body, tapering a little at the 

 bottom, a short, thick neck and a si)hei'i('al head, only slightly thicker 

 than the neck. From the spherical or kn()I)-slia[»ed head colourless, 

 spherical cojiidia of 2.5 (i diameter come forth, which are very soon 

 detached fron» each other, but the multij)lication of which goes on 

 for a ycvy long time, as may be infei-i-ed from their extremely large 

 number. 



The Sclerolia, externally black, mternally white, divei'ge little from 

 the common type as far as their structure is concerned. 'J'hey consist 

 of a |)sendoparenchym the cells of which are somewhat bigger in 

 the middle of the grains, somewhat smaller near the surface, show 

 various, mostly distoi-ted shapes (fig. 7), have very thick walls and 

 are not sejtaraled by intercellular spaces. The walls of the more 

 superficial cells are black, of the more central ones colourless. If a 

 sclerotium rests with ])art of its surface against the glass of a tube 

 or box, the black colour does not develo}) there. 



The sj)ore-bearing generation (fig. 8) which under favourable 



conditions comes forth from not too old Sclerotia and consists of a 



long, thread-sha[)ed stem and a miniature ai)otliecium, shows, in the 



first-mentioned part short, cylijidrical or column-shaped, closely packed 



cells, which at the surface bend dorsally, but in doing so assume 



the shape of clubs or retorts and turn their broadest part outside. 



They have a light-l)rown shade and impart to the stems aiul cups 



a peculiar appearance as if they were covered \vith downy scales. 



The hymeuium consists of asci and numerous loosely packed 



parai)hyses, of which some protrude a little abo\'e the others (Fig. 10). 



The asci are tubular, with rounded tips, insensible to iodine, 



160 — 180 X 6 — 7 n and contain in their Va upper parts 8 inclined, 



colourless, o\'al spores in a single row. The paraphyses are only 



slightly swollen at the top and almost colourless. Germinating 



spores were not seen. 



V. ihoCHEMICAT, INVKSTHIATION. 

 In order to stiidx the c(»nditioü^ of life of SclcrotiD'ni Xicotutn'Ji', 



