CLAVICEPS. 125 



Examine the sections under a high power, especially the head, 

 and note , 



1. The darker, denser zone immediately above the insertion on 

 the stalk. 



2. The more spongy mass of tissue forming the bulk of the 

 head : in this, the hyphse are more laxly arranged, and thicker : 

 externally will be seen 



3. A more dense, pseudo-parenchymatous peripheral band. 



4. The perithecia will now be seen to be cavities, each with 

 an ostiole which opens at the apex of one of the papillose projec- 

 tions. Note the rather denser coat of tissue lining the cavity, 

 which widens at the base into a sub-hymenial mass : this gives 

 off upwards numerous club-shaped asci, closely packed, and 

 without paraphyses; these, when mature, contain the peculiar 

 elongated filamentous spores. 



VI. Attempts should be made, by cultivation of these spores in 

 water, to observe the first stages of germination, when it may be 

 seen that hyphal tubes are formed at a number of points on the 

 single spore. 



VII. Attempts should also be made in early summer to infect 

 the inflorescence of various Grasses on which the parasite is known 

 to grow with the fresh spores, and to follow out the development 

 and characters of the gonidiophore or Sphacelia form of the 

 Fungus. 



