326 Transactions of the Society. 



suitable plasma the red mould is capable of holding its own for 

 a considerable time against common species like Penicillium and 

 Mucor, excepting in the summer months, when the plasma being 

 quickly attacked by Mycodenna vini, Mucor, or bacteria, rendered 

 a pure cultivation of the red mould a matter of some difficulty. 

 After a time it became evident that asci or sporangia were being 

 formed, and these eventually attained a fair size (see plate VI. 



%-2). . . . 



On moistening a single ascus with water, its contents were dis- 

 charged and the spores exhibited considerable variety in shape, 

 though they were for the most part spherical ; some had a tendency 

 to an elliptic form, and a few showed an incipient crescent shape. 

 The elongated and irregular appearance of some of the spore- 

 clusters (fig. 2) was caused by the rupture of the ascus, consequent 

 on its coming into contact with the moisture which occasionally 

 formed as a dew on the tufts. 



The spores were successfully sown on fresh plasma and gave 

 rise to an undoubted growth of the red mould. Fig. 3 shows the 

 germination of the spores. 



By a chance coincidence I was led to examine a mould- growth 

 on a bruised portion of a Spanish melon, and was surprised to find 

 that in several respects it resembled the red mould of barley. The 

 first portion of the mould removed from the melon showed a 

 quantity of crescent spores distributed amongst hyphae (aerial and 

 submerged), some of them identical in form with those of the red 

 mould, others showing a variation (fig. 4). Parings of the rind 

 of a perfectly sound melon were washed with water, at the same 

 time going gently over them with a camel's hair brush to detach 

 any adhering substances ; the washings were examined, and showed 

 a quantity of crescent bodies (fig. 5), which unquestionably were 

 capable of giving rise to a mould-growth similar to that observed 

 on the bruised melon. This melon mould also produces the crimson 

 colouring matter ; on referring again to fig. 4, a portion of the 

 growth (a) will be seen which I have no doubt was caused by 

 the submerging of some of the hyphae in the juicy portion of the 

 fruit. 



On exhausting the spores with pure water, as in the case of 

 those of the red mould, their behaviour was dissimilar, for no 

 separation into segments took place, and the sprouting was of a 

 very limited character, the hypha terminating in a spherical or 

 rounded cell, which in some cases sent out a bud, thus forming 

 a pair of cells which sometimes became detached from the crescent 

 spore (fig. 6). Distortion of the crescents occasionally ensued. 

 1'he mould was regenerated from the crescent spores, and allowed 

 to grow freely for some weeks, during which time crescent spores 

 •were formed in bundles attached to the hyphae (fig. 4), no ascus 



