33 



to the bodies formed in the same culture. It is only when they 

 are taken from a mycelium of the opposite sex that they will 

 be stimulated to develop the ascogenous elements. This brings 

 up the question as to what we mean by sex in the fungi. Here 

 are two mycelia, or two plants we may say, both apparently 

 alike morphologically, producing the same kind of structures, 

 yet they act only reciprocally in sexual reproduction. Of the 

 many races of this fungus that one could obtain from ascospores 



Figure 1. Controlled fertilization in the bakery mold. Sexual reproduction 

 only where the fertilizing elements (the orange-colored spores) were placed in 

 contact with the receptive bodies (Fig. 2). The black bodies making up the 

 letters represent something like 4000 sexually produced ascocarpic fruit 

 bodies. 



in culture, there would normally be only two kinds when it 

 comes to sexual reproduction. It is convenient to refer to the in- 

 dividuals of the two groups as being of opposite sex. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, it is impossible to apply accurately the terms male, 

 female, sex, and sexuality in connection with these lower plants. 

 The little sclerotioid receptive bodies (Fig. 2) are readily 



