•282 Ethel McLennan.- 



After tliis preliminary treatment they were crushed with sterile 

 forceps and introduced into the mouth of the agar tube, and then 

 immediately plated. A drop of lactic acid solution being intro- 

 duced to eliminate the growth of bacteria. 



(Crushing the ovaries brings the fungal hyphae into direct con- 

 tact with the medium used, and it was though that this might 

 induce growth). 



Some of the plates were left at room temperature, others were 

 incubated at 23''-2r)°C. As a rule the plates were found to remain 

 remarkably free from external contamination, and exhibited no 

 growth at all. Occasionally some superficial fungus, mostly Pem- 

 cillium, developed from the surface of the ovary, more especialy 

 from the stigmas. 



Probably the preliminary treatment to which the ovaries were 

 subjected may have acted detrimentally on the fungus, even kill- 

 ing it. Further work, however, requires to be done to decide this 

 point. 



One plate infected with an ovary, which had previously been 

 immersed in ether for four minutes, exhibited a fungal growth 

 which seemed to arise from the ovary as a centre and which could 

 not be attributed to any of the commoner superficial forms. 



The first signs of growth appeared on the third day after infec- 

 tion. Ihe hyphae were extremely septate, and their tips seemed to 

 -divide into tAvo, the resulting branches growing equally. 

 At this time there were no signs of spore formation. On the thir- 

 teenth day signs of fruiting bodies were noticed. When young 

 they appeared salmon pink in colour, becoming very dark when 

 old. They were irregular in size and shape, and appeared to be of 

 the nature of pycnidia. 



I have to thank Mr. C. C. Brittlebank (Government Plant Patho- 

 logist) for identifying the growth so obtained. He had no hesita- 

 tion in placing it as a Coniothyrium, probably closely related to 

 C. olivaceum, Bon. The ovary from which the felt was obtained 

 was fixed, along with a portion of the felt, in Fleming's weak solu- 

 tion, and afterwards microtomed. The sections showed that the 

 tissues of the ovary remained intact during the growth of the myce- 

 lium, and hyphae similar to those composing the felt were found 

 running in its tissues. 



This may or may not be the fungus found in the Loliums, but its 

 close affinity to Phoma is rather suggestive, for many mycorrhizal 

 forms have been found to belong to this latter genus. 



