146 



are as stable in their present form as are other fungi. Thus, saltants with 

 short conidia (as M35 and M40) and saltants with broad conidia (M6 and 

 M8) have been cultured and graphs of conidia repeatedly made, the sal- 

 tant maintaining its character. For example, a determination_of_measure- 

 ments of conidia of M35 made after several transfers and the lapse of 

 some weeks gave the following data: 



Mo- CV 



17.31 .25 2.51 .17 14.50 1.05 



Comparison of the above data with data of Graph 65, Fig. P, shows 

 that this saltant not only remains far below H. No. 1 in length but is also 

 constant. It is particularly to be noted that all comparative conidial meas- 

 urements were made under standard conditions. Other characters ex- 

 hibited by saltants, such as color, zonation, and aerial mycelium, are sim- 

 ilarly permanent when strongly marked. Saltants are, however, subject 

 to further saltation and indeed in some instances are exceptionally liable 

 to it, for example, M26. Not all suspected examples of saltation afforded 

 by variant sectors proved to be permanent in character, and some lost their 

 distinguishing marks after one or a few transfers. Such instability was not 

 observed in cases of conidial length and breadth, or of pronounced pale 

 colony-color, but was more commonly noted in cases of slight differences of 

 aerial mycelium, slightly pale color of colony, clumping, etc. While all cul- 

 tures were carried, for convenience, on corn-meal agar, and their differences 

 were observed on this medium, all that were studied critically were passed 

 through other media autoclaved wheat-shoots and live-wheat to deter- 

 mine whether such passage would alter the character of the saltant. The 

 saltant characters were apparent on other media, as green-wheat agar or 

 beef agar, though the general colony-character of both original and saltant 

 was changed by the medium. After passage through these conditions, or 

 through wheat, they were inoculated under standard conditions for all 

 graphic comparisons. There is no evidence of alteration of the characters 

 of the saltants by such procedure. In other words, the saltation is not a 

 phenomenon associated with the medium and ended when the fungus gets 

 back to its normal habitat. 



STABILITY OF THE SALTANTS THROUGH THE CONIDIA 



Dilution platings of conidia of well-marked saltants gave colonies all 

 alike and with all the characters of the saltant, showing permanence of 

 these characters through the conidia. 



