1922] DUFF—GEOGLOSSACEAE 265 
of the ascocarp of Leotia, but, strange to say, he makes no reference 
to a veil, although his material apparently included very early 
stages of this form. His failure to mention the veil might be due 
to the fact that he was chiefly concerned with the origin of the 
asci and the nuclear phenomena connected therewith. 
From these investigations it will be seen that in two of the 
three Helvellinean families, the Geoglossaceae and the Helvellaceae, 
an endogenous origin of the hymenium has been claimed. Unti 
the publications of FrrzpaTricK (14, 15), nothing was known of 
the conditions prevailing among the members of the remaining 
family, the Rhizinaceae. FirzPaTRIck has now shown quite con- 
clusively that Rhizina undulata, the type of the family, possesses 
no investment at any stage of its history, and that, therefore, not 
only is the hymenium ‘‘exposed from the first,” but the ascocarp 
itself is naked, that is, ‘gymnocarpous.”’ 
In a preliminary communication the writer (10) briefly outlined 
his findings in an examination of four Geoglossaceous forms, namely, 
Cudonia lutea, Spathularia velutipes, Trichoglossum hirsutum, and 
Leotia lubrica. The veils of Cudonia and Spathularia were found to 
be present practically from the first. Trichoglossum proved to be 
devoid of all traces of a veil at every stage.. On the other hand, 
Leotia lubrica showed some slight traces of a veil, which might be 
comparable with the one claimed for it by Drrrricn, but the series 
of stages which the writer had under observation did not include 
ones sufficiently young to make diagnosis positive, and the question 
must still be regarded as an open one. 
Turning to the question of the sexuality of the Helvellineae, 
there is still less to record. Dzrrrricu found no highly organized 
sexual apparatus in either Mitrula or Leotia, and he characterizes 
both forms as apogamous. The fertile hyphae here are differen- 
tiated from the vegetative threads at an early stage as conspicuous, 
deeply staining cells, with large single nuclei. 
Similarly McCupstn describes and figures the multinucleate, 
fertile elements of Helvella as having their origin in the vegetative 
hyphae, from which they spring at a later stage than is the case with 
Mitrula and Leotia. No sign of any body resembling an ascogonium 
was discovered at any stage. 
