THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ASCOCARP OF 
LACHNEA SCUTELLATA? 
WILLIAM H. Brown 
(WITH PLATE IX AND FIFTY-ONE FIGURES) 
The material upon which the present study is based was col- 
lected at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, where the ascocarps 
of Lachnea were found in large numbers upon decaying wood in 
damp places. The ascocarps appear to be frequently produced 
in crops, as a considerable number of about the same age are often 
found on a single log. If all of these are removed while still young, 
a second crop will usually appear in a few days. If now the young 
ascocarps are removed as they appear, successive crops may con- 
tinue to be produced for some time. By this means a large number 
of young stages can be quite easily obtained. 
For microscopical study, sections were cut 3-5 # thick and 
stained with Flemming’s triple or Haidenhain’s iron-alum hema- 
toxylin. The latter gave the best results. 
Lachnea scutellata has a disk-shaped ascocarp, 2 mm.—1 cm. in 
diameter, the upper surface of which is covered by the hymenium, 
Which is colored red. The margin and lower surface of the disk 
are brown and thickly beset with long brown setae. The setae are 
long, septate hyphae, the outer walls of which are greatly thickened. 
A cross-section of an ascocarp (plate fig. 1) shows that the inside is 
composed of densely interlacing hyphae, while the margin and lower 
Surface are covered by a parenchymatous cortical layer consisting 
of large, thick-walled hyphae which run nearly parallel to each 
other and perpendicular to the outer surface of the ascocarp. 
Woronin (38) described the ascocarp of Lachnea scutellata as 
originating in the production of an archicarp, which soon became 
surrounded by vegetative hyphae that obscured its further develop- 
ment. 
* Contribution from the Botanical Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University, 
Oo. —. 
275) [Botanical Gazette, vol. 52 
