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the appearance of a very small quantity of fruit bodies. MucJi 

 better results луеге obtained when the nourishing medium was 

 infected by the mycehum, which was cleaned previously from the 

 surplus of bacteria. For this purpose, generally the coverglasses 

 Avith the germinating spores луеге placed in Petri cups, with a ge- 

 latinized, faintly alkalized, decoction of horse dung. In twentyfour 

 hours the mycelium of the fungus shot from under the cover-glass 

 and grew to an extent,' which made easy the cutting off clean ends 

 of its hyphae with a small quantity of substratum, for infecting 

 Avith new portions of gelatin. This regrafting was repeated from 

 two or three times, after what the fungus was definitely replanted 

 into one or another nourishing medium ^), for which principally 

 sterilized horse dung or IV2V0 ^S^^ "^^^^s used, prepared on a- 

 faintly alkalized decoction of horse dung. In this case the myce- 

 lium grew promptly over the whole substratum, piercing it in alt 

 directions. For Sordaria on the third or fourth day, and for others 

 on the seventeenth— twentieth day, there appeared always large' 

 quantities of the mature perithecia of the fungus. One could often 

 observe the formation on the same Avithin the agar and on the 

 bottom of the vessel. The height of the layer of agar was not 

 less than 1 — IV2 .с/ш- Sordaria and P. seto§a were always espe- 

 cially fruitful. 



The age of fhe horse dung, on which the fungus grew, and 

 Avhich served for the preparation of the decoction, had a great 

 influence on the abundance of the fruiting. On quite fresh (steri- 

 lized) horse dung the fuftgus, even vegetative, grew badly and 

 finally developed only unique specimens of fruit bodies, so that on 

 the whole, the culture seemed poor and morbid. The use of horse 

 dung that was too old also did not give good results. The best 

 were those produced by a mixture of fresh and old dung (about 

 three weeks old). The same mixture was used for the preparation 

 of horse dung extract for iVaVo agar. It must not be too strong 



1) To make regraftings is specially convenient on gelatin, not so on agar, 

 because of the continual presence on the surface of the latter of a thin layer 

 of "water, -vrhich moistens the mycelium, and carries at the same time the 

 bacteria, which are on the hyphae along the T^hole surface of the nourishing- 

 medium. It is difficult to clean it, and the quantity of regraftings is more nu- 

 merous than -when one ^vorks "oith the aid of gelatin. 



8 



