472 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [DECEMBER 
Lachnea scutellata, Pyronema confluens, and Phyllactinia corylea. 
As soon as the beak has reached a certain length, which is compara- 
tively short in Thecotheus, these kinoplasmic fibers bend downward 
and grow backward over the nucleus, fusing laterally to form a con- 
tinuous plasma membrane, which separates the cytoplasm of the 
spore from that of the epiplasm. The nuclear beak is withdrawn 
and a somewhat pointed nucleus remains in the young spore (jig. 6), 
which gradually resumes the spherical shape of a resting nucleus. 
Although the process of spore delimitation is not easily followed in 
Thecotheus, I am convinced that it is essentially the same as HARPER 
has described for other Ascomycetes. I have also had an oppor- 
tunity to compare my own preparations containing this stage with 
those of HARPER on Erysiphe and Lachnea, which objects he found 
most favorable for study. I can see no essential differences in appear- 
ances. The nuclear beaks do not have any special orientation or 
relation to the plasma membrane, as has been figured and described 
by certain authors for other forms. The beaks may lie at any angle 
during the process of spore delimitation. 
BARKER (:04) believes the process of spore formation in the 
many-spored asci of Ryparobius to be unlike that in the typical 
ascus. “The protoplasm passes through a series of characteristic 
changes during the development of the ascus, and the whole process 
of spore formation seems to be intermediate between typical methods 
in sporangia and asci.” We shall await BARKER’s completed account 
of the spore formation in this form with great interest. We have 
seen that the method of spore delimitation in the many-spored asci 
of Thecotheus is exactly similar to that found in typical eight-spored 
asci. As noted in another connection, FAULL entirely dissents from 
the method of spore formation as described by HARPER. I have been 
unable to discover in Thecotheus the presence of hyaline zones in 
connection with which cleavage takes place to delimit the spore- 
plasm from the epiplasm as described by Fautt, and I am certain 
that no such method of spore formation exists in Thecotheus. 
Fig. 6 represents a spore in the process of delimitation as described 
above. In the same figure a very young spore is also shown, which 
has its delimiting membrane already formed and the nuclear beak 
withdrawn. It will be observed that the sporeplasm is nearly like 
