a i Eege aa 
ے سو بش ا چو ہا ہیی ا ہیس ںیہ یل ييه 
SPORE DISSEMINATION 37 
The best summary of this subject is found in the synopsis on 
page 32; but a few general considerations will be of value. The 
whole process of spore ejection is considered to be a purely phys- 
ical phenomenon which has no connection with the life processes 
of the plant except in so far as the structures which render it pos- 
sible are the result of those processes. Evidences of this have 
accumulated during the progress of the work. Every genus in 
the family shows that the asci will stretch in a normal manner 
after a desiccation which has rendered them entirely lifeless. 
It was my practice in making moist chamber cultures to pay 
but little attention to the samples of the substrata until they were 
thoroughly moistened. At this time they were all carefully exam- 
ined for perithecia of species of this family. This examination al- 
ways took place within the first twenty-four hours after the cultures 
were started. In several instances one or more species were found, 
and their asci or membranes enlarged in an apparently normal man- 
ner. The phenomenon was of remarkably frequent occurrence in 
the genus Sporormia, but the same thing was often observed in study- 
ing dry specimens of any of the other genera when they had been 
dried at the proper stage of development. One case studied is of 
particular interest. The substratum on which S. /a/a was found 
was sent to me late in July or early in August, 1899. It was 
kept in a dry state in the laboratory until January, 1900, when it 
was thoroughly moistened and placed in a moist chamber where 
it remained for about twenty hours before being examined. The 
asci on being pressed out of the perithecium ruptured, and the mem- 
branes elongated in a manner indistinguishable from a growing 
plant. Several membranes ruptured and ejected their spores in 
water under the cover-glass. Later, membranes were found 
pushing their way out of the ostiola in undisturbed perithecia 
upon the substratum. But the rupture of the asci and the elonga- 
tion of the membrane are matters of common observation in some 
species of the Pyrenomycetes. However, no record has come to 
my observation of an actual demonstration of spore ejection like 
this one from dead specimens. 
It appears from these observations that these plants have so 
adapted themselves to their environment that they may be dried 
with impunity when they reach maturity, and that when proper 
