208 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [MaRcH 
have been followed carefully from base to apex throughout the 
various sections of a series, and the cells are found to differ to a 
marked degree in size and shape. Great variability is also shown 
in the general form of the archicarp (figs. 1-4). It develops in 
some cases as a loose coil (fig. 3), in others winds irregularly among 
the other hyphae (fig. 1), or more rarely bends back upon itself, 
forming two nearly parallel rows of cells (fig. 4). Irregularly 
winding archicarps are the most common type. Closely wound 
coils have not been found. Antheridia are not produced, and no 
fusion of the terminal cell of the archicarp with any other structure 
has been observed. Many sections have been examined in vain 
in an endeavor to demonstrate such fusions. The writer is con- 
vinced that none occur. 
The terminal cell of the archicarp is smaller than the other 
cells of this structure. It is usually narrow and attenuated, and 
at the maturity of the archicarp shows disorganized, deeply stain- 
ing, protoplasmic contents. It resembles very closely the cell 
figured and described by Curtinc (18) as a trichogyne in 
Ascophanus carneus, and from analogy the writer will refer to it 
as the trichogyne. It certainly does not function, however, and 
is evidently merely a vestigial structure. 
The archicarp in R. undulata is not, as in certain other 
species, sharply divided into definite apical, central, and basal 
portions. The cells which give rise to ascogenous hyphae are 
usually centrally located in the coil, and in some individuals are 
slightly larger than the other cells, but this is not always the case. 
No well defined ascogonium is differentiated. 
In the younger stages in the development of the archicarp no 
pores can be detected in the transverse septa. If any exist, they 
are very minute. Deeply staining, extranuclear granules, resem- 
bling those in the vegetative hyphae, are frequently found grouped 
on opposite sides of the cross walls. Their occurrence is not con- 
stant and their function is unknown. Similar granules are also 
described as occurring in Ascobolus (HARPER 39, WELSFORD 65), 
Ascophanus carneus (CuTTING 18), Pyronema confluens (HARPER 
40), Humaria granulata (BLACKMAN and FRASER 9g), and other 
Ascomycetes. 
