152 BETTS 2 THE FUNGI OF THE BEE-HIVE. 
Sordaria fimicola, Rob. 
This species has been cultivated once or twice from mouldy 
combs, but is evidently only very occasionally present in the hive. 
Its presence in healthy stocks has not been demonstrated with cer- 
tainty. It is probably carried into the hive by bees seeking water 
in places to which horses have access. 
The .dimensions here given are for the most part taken from 
material cultivated on horse-dung. The perithecia are pear-shaped, 
or globose, with a curved neck, 280 p in diameter; on some media 
they only attain 75. The asci are cylindrical, narrowing to a stalk 
(Fig. 19); the sporiferous portion is 145 x 14 p53 the tip is slightly 
thickened. The asci in each perithecium are, in a fairly young 
Fig. 19.—Sordavia fimicola, Ascus, ascospores, germination. x 640. 
culture, of various ages. The paraphyses are irregularly swollen, 
septate, transparent hyphae. ‘The ascospores are eight in each ascus, 
in a single row; each spore has its germination-pore directed towards 
the stalk-end of the ascus. The spores are dark brown in colour, 
20 x 12 #; they have a gelatinous integument, and (usually) one 
vacuole. They germinate by the emission from the pore of a 
spherical bladder, from which a hypha or hyphae then proceed 
(Fig. 19). 
These dimensions agree well with those given by Winter (29 
p. 1€6) for Sordaria fimicola. 
