90 Transactions British Mycological Society. 



room temperature. A pycnidia-producing fungus was con- 

 stantly isolated during- these trials. This fungus was identified 

 as a species of Phoma but it is not the same species as that 

 isolated from the sporophyte of Pellia epiphylla as its behaviour 

 on artificial media, and the shapes and dimensions of the spores 

 are dissimilar. Numerous attempts have been made to re- 

 inoculate the fungus thus isolated into uninfected plants of 

 Lunularia but these have not yet proved successful. Notwith- 

 standing the constant isolation of the fungus in the cultures it 

 is not certain that it is the true endophyte. 



Isolation and Culture of Lunularia. 



The gemmae of Lunularia being quite free from the fungus, 

 it was found possible to obtain pure cultures of the liverwort 

 from them. For this purpose, large test-tubes i| inches in 

 diameter, were used. A quantity of nutrient liquid medium 

 was placed in the bottom of the tube, and a strip of filter paper 

 was introduced, which dipped into the liquid at the bottom, 

 and covered about half the surface of the tube. The tubes were 

 plugged tightly with cotton wool and sterilised in the autoclave. 



The liquid medium used was one of those employed by Ser- 

 vettaz (1913) in his experiments on the development of mosses 

 on sterilised media, namely the solution of Knop modified, as 

 given below: 



Gemmae were removed from their cups with a platinum 

 needle and sown with aseptic precautions on the strips of filter 

 paper described above. The tubes were then placed in front of 

 a window which faced north, so that they might be in the most 

 favourable position with regard to light. 



This method proved very successful. The gemmae were sown 

 in December 1921, by May 1922, that is six months afterwards, 

 they had produced very healthy thalli which in turn bore 

 gemmae cups. By the beginning of June the gemmae produced 

 on these plants had become scattered over the surface of the 

 filter paper and glass sides of the tuljes and in their turn had 

 begun to germinate. 



The plants on examination proved to be quite free of fungus. 

 It is therefore certain that the liverwort can grow as well 

 without as with it. The plants produced by this method of 

 cultivation were larger and more healthy in appearance than 

 any of the infected material examined. The artificial conditions 

 of culture however might account for this. The thalli measured 



