SCLEROTINIA. 263 



Fischer succeeded in obtaining stalked ascocarps from sclerotia 

 of one and two years old. They resembled most closely those 

 of Scl. vaccina, their stalk being provided with numerous rhiz- 

 oids. The asci contain eight similar spores which germinate 

 directly on ejaculation. They develop a mycelium and, later, 

 chains of chlamydospores which separate by means of disjunctors. 

 The little conidia found by Woronin on Vaccinium are never 

 produced. The paraphyses are generally unbranched and corre- 

 spond in length to the asci. 



The mummified fruits are easiest found after the healthy 

 capsules have dehisced, then the diseased ones remain closed. 

 In winter the healthy capsules remain attached to the plant, 

 the diseased fall off. Seeds of diseased capsules are completely 

 overgrown by hyphae. 



Wahrlich ^ found sclerotia in capsules of Rhod. daJmricum 

 from Siberia. They gave off a sclerotial ascocarp with a stalk 

 devoid of rhizoids. The mummified fruits resemble closely those 

 of Sd. rhododmdri. 



Scl. heteroica Wor. et Naw. = Scl. ledi Naw.- occurs on 

 Ledum jMltistre in Faissia and Finland. It is very similar to 

 Scl. rhododendri, but is distinguished by the paraphyses being 

 swollen and frequently forked at the end. In nutritive gelatine 

 a copious mycelium is developed, and produces chains of ripe 

 conidia with tiny disjunctors. Woronin found that these conidia 

 are produced only on Vaccinium idiginosum, never on Ledum ; 

 but the conidia so formed can successfully infect the ovary of 

 Ljcdum. We have here the first known case of heteroecism 

 outside the Uredineae. 



Scl. sclerotiorum Lib.^ (Britain and U.S. America). The 

 sclerotia of this fungus are found in many various plants. 

 They fall to the ground with the dead plants, hibernate under 

 snow, and on the arrival of warmer weather in spring give 

 rise to several stalked apothecia. The ascospores are ejaculated 

 from the asci, germinate, and produce a parasitic mycelium, 

 described thus by De Bary : " The ripe spores of Peziza 

 sclerotiorum produce germ-tubes on any moist substratum. 



^ Berichte d. deiif.frh. hotan. Ges., 1892. 

 -Nawaschin, Berichte d. deutsch. hotan. Ges., 1894, p. 117. 

 ■' Bi-efeld, Schimmelpilze, iv. and x. ; De Bary, Morphology and. Biolo<iy of the 

 Ftuifji ; and Botan. Zeitung, 1886. 



