NO. 6 PHYCOMYCETES COLLECTED BY W. R. TAYLOR 107 



fig. 5). The globules persist for a time, but eventually these are absorbed 

 and the oospore undergoes a period of rest, far removed from the oogo- 

 nium. The precise duration of encystment is not known. Fully mature 

 oospores dried for three vt^eeks on cover slips have germinated when 

 placed in water. It will also be recalled that the soil samples from which 

 the fungus was isolated had been dry at least two months before they 

 were obtained for study. It is probable, therefore, that the oospore can 

 remain viable in the soil during ordinary periods of tropical drought. 



Upon germination, a single small pore is formed in the oospore wall, 

 through which a hypha emerges (pi. 17, fig. 6). The latter elongates 

 indefinitely, branches, makes contact with bits of organic material, and 

 re-establishes the fungus. Reproductive organs of either type may be 

 formed, or the mycelium may continue its vegetative growth. 



Monoblepharella Taylori presents among other features a type of 

 sexual reproduction of unusual interest. So far as now known, sexuality 

 in those uniciliated Phycomycetes where one or both the gametes are 

 free swimming may be isogamous (Olpidimrij Synchytrium, Blastocladi- 

 ella variablis), anisogamous (Allomyces javanicus, A. arbuscula), or 

 oogamous ( Monoblepharis ) . In this series one type of sexual reproduction 

 has not as yet been found, namely, that in which a free-swimming egg is 

 fertilized out in the water by a motile sperm. When M. Taylori was first 

 discovered, it was thought that it might possess this sort of reproduction. 

 A close examination, however, revealed otherwise, for it is not the egg 

 that is ciliated and motile, but the zygote. It seems highly probable, 

 therefore, that there exists in nature an oogamous organism of this group 

 in which both gametes are motile. 



6. Phycomycete of unknown affinities. 



Sandy bank of a stream ("Site I"), Caledonia Bay, Panama; April 

 26, 1939. 



Only a few thalli and mature sporangia of this fungus were found. 

 All attempts to multiply it failed, and hence little is known of its life 

 history or affinities. 



The plant consists at maturity of two well-defined parts: a distal, 

 more or less spherical body, 70 — 200fi in diameter with a broad discharge 

 tube 15 — 30 X 50 — 60/A long, and, continuous with it, a trunklike basal 

 stalk, 50 — 220/A long x 25/x wide, from the tip of which emerges a series 

 of sparsely or richly branched holdfasts. Occasionally the stalk is lack- 

 ing and the holdfasts arise directly from the body. The two parts are 



