[Vor. 3 
442 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
spores the sporophores were rinsed twice in sterile distilled 
water in large-sized Petri dishes. This removes some of the 
bacteria and spores of foreign fungi. After this washing 
process the sporophores were allowed to stand in sterile dis- 
tilled water for about two hours, so that they were thoroughly 
saturated. They were removed with sterile forceps and 
sponged off with Scott’s tissue toweling which had been pre- 
viously sterilized, and were then placed, hymenium downward, 
in large, dry, sterile Petri dishes. After 24-48 hours the 
sporophores had discharged enough spores to make a white 
spore print. The moisture in the sporophores serves two pur- 
poses other than reviving the tissues. It keeps the air in the 
dish sufficiently humid to prevent too rapid desiccation, and 
it also tends to hold foreign spores to the surface of the 
sporophores. The latter is beneficial in securing a fairly pure 
dispersion of spores. 
The spore dispersion was made in sterile distilled water. 
Test-tube water-blanks were prepared and sterilized. Sev- 
eral loopfuls of sterile water were transferred to the spore 
print by means of a platinum loop. By stirring a little with 
the loop the spores were so dispersed that when a loopful of 
the spore suspension was transferred to the water-blank a 
cloudy streak was produced. Three or four such loopfuls of 
the spore suspension were transferred to a water-blank, which 
was well shaken by rolling between the palms of the hands. 
Two or three loopfuls were transferred to each of several 
tubes of melted agar, and poured plates were made as in the 
usual bacteriological method. Plates made in this way with 
the 3 per cent agar mentioned above were surprisingly free 
from bacterial contamination but contained a few scattering 
colonies of foreign moulds. The colonies produced by the 
germinating spores of Lenzites were so characteristic, how- 
ever, and so generally scattered over the plates that they soon 
became easily recognizable. Individual colonies from the 
plates were transferred to agar slants, a quantity of cultures 
being obtained. 
