DISCOID FUNGI— DISCOMYCETES 



175 



With such a structure it will manifestly be almost im- 

 possible to trace the development of the spore and to set at 

 rest the question of sexuality in reproduction. It has been 

 assumed that there is some form of impregnation in the Dis- 

 comycetes, either for each individual ascus or for the entire 

 cup. Those who have advocated the impregnation of the asci, 

 affect to see in the paraphyses some representative of the male 

 organs, but in support of this theory there is no evidence. The 

 granular contents at the apices of the paraphyses do not 

 suggest spermatia, but mostly colouring matter which imparts 

 the tone of colour to the disc. Advocates have also been found 

 for the fertilisation of the entire cup in its most initial stage 

 of growth. These profess to have found, especially in Ascoholus 

 fiirfuraccus and in Pyronema conjiuens, all that they require to 

 establish sexuality. Woronin^ in Lachnca 'pidcherrima (Cr.) 

 claims to have ascertained that the cup derives its origin from 

 a short and flexible tube, thicker than the other branches of 

 the mycelium, and which is soon divided by transverse septa, 

 or partitions, into a series of cells, the successive increase of 

 which finally gives to the whole a torulose and unequal appear- 

 ance. The body thus formed he called a "vermiform body," 

 since designated a "scolecite" ^ (Fig. 71). He also seems to have 

 convinced himself that there always exists in proximity to this 

 body certain filaments, the short arched or inflexed branches 

 of which, like so many antheridia, rest their anterior extremities 

 on the uniform cells. This contact seems to communicate to 

 the vermiform body a special vital energy, which is immedi- 

 ately directed towards the production of a somewhat filamentous 

 tissue, on which the hymenium, or disc, is at a later period 

 developed. 



Tulasne ^ observes that this scolecite can be readily 

 isolated in Ascoholus furfuraceus. When the young receptacles 

 are still spherical and white, and have not attained more than 

 one-twentieth of a millimetre in diameter, it is sufficient to 

 compress them slightly in order to rupture them at the summit 

 and expel the scolecite. This occupies the centre of the 



1 De Bary, Beitr. zur Morph. der Pihe, 1866. 



2 See Fig. 26. 



3 Tulasne, Ann. dcs Sci. Nat., Oct. 1866, p. 211. 



