Scofidd : DICTYOPHORA RAVEXELII BURT. 527 



along the strand, but they are more or less twisted about each 

 other, very much as are the threads which make up a strand of 

 yarn. 



The peripheral area (Fig. 9, c] is composed of loosely inter- 

 twining hyphas, much smaller and more profusely branched 

 than the central hyphas, and extending out somewhat into the 

 surrounding soil (Fig. 8). They seem to resemble very much 

 the root hairs on the roots of higher plants. It seems quite 

 probable that the hyphas of the peripheral areas of the smaller 

 strands function as the absorptive area of the plant, while the 

 larger central hyphas act as conduction paths. 



In the larger strands the peripheral hyphas occupy a rela- 

 tively smaller part of the strand and seem to abandon their ab- 

 sorptive, to assume more of a cortical function, being reduced 

 in the very large strands to a smooth disorganized coating. 

 The central hyphas by their habit of twisting about each other 

 make it difficult to determine their method of growth and 

 branching, for they do not continue long enough in the plane 

 of the section to be studied with ease, and in no case were defi- 

 nite cross-septa noted although they doubtless exist. 



Upon the mycelium are borne two distinct kinds of bodies : 

 (i) the reproductive body, and (2) what it has seemed best to 

 call a storage body or " tuber." The latter will be considered 

 first. 



The tuber makes its appearance as a slight enlargement of a 

 mycelial strand, and in the early stages of its development seems 

 to be merely the result of rapid growth of the peripheral 

 hyphas. There seems to be little regularity in the size or shape 

 of the tubers and even less in regard to their place of occur- 

 rence upon the mycelium. In Fig. iconeof the larger tubers is 

 shown, natural size, and upon a connecting strand is shown at 

 " " the base of an old sporophore. The strand bearing this 

 tuber seems to have been more or less branched and the tuber 

 is lobed to some extent to follow the branching. The tuber is 

 made up of very closely woven hyphas which are much dis- 

 torted, evidently by being packed full of somewhat granular 

 material. In general structure it appears homogeneous except 

 the region of the strand upon which it is borne, where the 

 hyphas seemed to leave the strand to some extent and mingle 

 with those of the tuber, but not so much so that the direction of 

 the strand cannot be clearly followed throughout. A section 



