112 ASCOMYCETES AND RHODOPHYCE. 
and a number of stalk-cells is usually to be distinguished at the 
base of the antheridium. With further development the papilla or 
young conjugating-tube elongates rapidly, its tip curving somewhat 
to meet the end of the club-shaped antheridium which curves slightly 
over the odgonium, frequently exceeding the latter in height (Fig. 
41, C). At first the contents of the trichogyne and the odgonium are 
continuous (Fig. 41, B). It is multinucleate, and the nuclei do not 
appear to be different from those of the oogonium. Long before the 
trichogyne becomes fused with the antheridium, a cross-wall is formed 
Fic. 4t.—Development of sexual organs in Pyronema confluens.—(After Harper.) 
A, young pair of sexual organs with several vegetative cells below. 
B, older pair, trichogyne not yet delimited from odgonium ; antheridium cut transversely, hence seen 
in transverse section. 
C, odgonium and antheridium in longitudinal section ; odgonium stalk with budding vegetative hyphz ; 
trichogyne with hyaline beak, its nuclei swollen and transparent, 
at the juncture of the tube with the oogonium, delimiting it from the 
latter. This wall is formed before the sexual cells or the trichogyne 
have reached their mature size. Whether nuclear divisions occur in 
the tube after it is cut off was not determined (Fig. 41, C). During 
subsequent growth the nuclei in the trichogyne do not increase in size 
as do those of the antheridium and odgonium, but sooner or later show 
signs of disintegration. They swell up without an increase of their 
contents until they may equal in size the sexual nuclei, but they are 
very transparent. Later, during the formation of the fusion-pore 
