115 



lated forms as H. Nos. 3, 13, 16, etc. That the internal structure of Hel- 

 minthosporium conidia has not been clearly understood is shown by nu- 

 merous published figures. 



Conidial germination. The conidia germinate readily in water, in 

 hanging drop, or on the surface of wheat shoots (Fig. 12), and germination, 



FIG. 12. Germinating conidia of H. No. 1 



so far as I have seen, is very rarely lateral but usually from the ends, most 

 commonly from the basal end. Thus twenty-seven basal germinations 

 were counted as against fourteen apical ones. The germ-tube is hyaline, 

 richly filled with protoplasm, and forms abundant branches and septa 

 (Fig. 12). Bakke (6) states that "germ tubes first come from basal and 

 apical cells; later other germ tubes may arise from the remaining cells under 

 favorable conditions." Kirchner (72) states that germination in H. gramin- 

 eum is usually terminal, but Noack (87) shows that for this species the 

 germ-tubes are as often lateral. The viability of the protoplast was not 

 injured by crushing the epispore; indeed such cracking seemed to facilitate 

 emergence of the germ-tube. Anastomosis of the germ-tubes is not uncom- 

 mon (Fig. 13). As the germ-tube enlarges there is frequently, though not 



