84 NortH AMERICAN SORDARIACEAE 
instance has been found in which the asci were thought to be 
stretched in the least. Osmotic action, however, obtains here as 
in the other genera at the time of maturity ; but the asci rupture 
without stretching in much the same manner as those of Pleurage 
after stretching. The ascus ruptures transversely by cutting off a 
portion of the apex. The line of rupture varies in different species 
and indeed it is not constant in the same species. It may occur 
near the apex when a small thimble-shaped segment of the 
ascus apex is cut off as in Sporormia intermedia, or it may occur 
farther down as in S. herculea. (Pl. 2. f. 9.) After the rupture of 
the ascus in the latter species the lower attached portion may be 
distinctly seen thrown into irregular convolutions and folds, while 
in the former, as well as in many of its closely related species, the 
corresponding portion appears to hold its shape almost perfectly 
after the rupture. 
As soon as the wall of the ascus in the genus Sporormia is 
broken, a second membrane appears within it. The protoplasmic 
contents of the ascus has formed a membrane which is indistin- 
guishable from the ascus wall itself before the rupture occurs. 
This internal membrane is tremendously elastic. Several cases 
have been observed in which the membrane stretched five times 
the length of the original ascus. Sometimes the cap of the ascus 
is carried up with the membrane, but more often it soon becomes 
rubbed off and is lost. The membrane, unlike the asci of the 
genus Pleurage, does not extend much in width; it continues about 
the same in this dimension as the original ascus. In all the species 
of the genus there is not one which has transparent perithecia, 
so we are obliged to employ other means of studying the behavior 
of the asci. Fortunately here the membrane carries all of the 
spores entirely outside of the perithecium, S. intermedia, S. leporina, 
and S. Dakotensis. In the last named species they protrude twice or 
thrice the length of the spore mass beyond the ostiolum. Usually 
they will remain stretched to their full capacity for a short time when 
the apex of the membrane gives way and the whole spore mass 
which is held together by the gelatinous coatings is forced out, 
as from the ascus of Sordaria, through an apical perforation. 
Whether the apical perforation is constant in the genus is not fully 
determined; but it is very common at least. Uncertainty regard- 
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