1918] FITZPATRICK—RHIZINA 205 
and on partially exposed roots a definite subiculum is thus produced, 
upon which minute, snow white knobs of mycelium are developed. 
These constitute primordia of fruit-bodies. They are composed 
of undifferentiated hyphae, but a somewhat indefinite palisade 
layer is formed over the periphery of the primordium. At their 
initiation, these primordia are extremely minute, averaging approxi- 
mately o.3 mm. in lateral diameter. There is no indication other 
than shape that they are to develop into ascocarps. Sexual cells 
at this early period are certainly absent. The hyphae composing 
the primordium are all of approximately the same diameter, and 
consist of narrow, cylindrical, multinucleate cells. Uninucleate 
or binucleate cells are not found. These hyphae in many instances 
can be traced back toward the point of origin of the primordium, 
where they are either lost in the tangle of hyphae composing the 
subiculum or are found to enter the soil. 
The ascocarp primordium increases in size chiefly by the elonga- 
tion and branching of the palisade hyphae at the periphery. At 
the same time the palisade layer becomes more sharply demarcated. 
The fruit-body, as demonstrated by the writer in his earlier paper, 
is not, either at the beginning or at any later period, provided with 
an enveloping membrane. The ascocarp in this species is therefore 
gymnocarpous, the hymenium being ‘exposed from the first.” 
The nuclei in the cells of the vegetative hyphae are small, and 
were studied with difficulty. A small amount of chromatic 
material and a deeply staining nucleolus may be seen in each. No 
division figures have been observed. It is possible that mitosis 
occurs only at night, all the material having been placed in the 
fixer at one time during the day. However, the minute size of the 
nuclei would render any study of nuclear division in the vegetative 
hyphae extremely difficult. The nuclei occur irregularly through- 
out the hyphae, and give no indication of pairing or of any other 
definite arrangement. Deeply staining granules are present in 
the cytoplasm. These extranuclear bodies, possibly the meta- 
chromatic granules of GUILLIERMOND (35), are of doubtful function. 
Sometimes they are found grouped over the opposite faces of the 
transverse septa. A similar condition exists in Ascophanus carneus, 
where, according to Currinc (18), they guard a minute pore in the 
