ENDOTHIA PARASITICA AND RELATED SPECIES. 33 
regard as an early stage of their development. They describe them 
as branching frequently and very crooked, extending around the 
perithecium as well as upward. The writers have searched in all the 
species studied for evidence of the presence of paraphyses, but have 
never seen anything resembling paraphyses as they occur in closely 
related Pyrenomycetes. If they occur, they would seem to be of an 
unusual character and difficult to recognize or else are evanescent, 
disappearing before the asci are mature. 
ASCOSPORES. 
The ascospores furnish one of the niost marked characters for the 
separation of the genus into sections (Plate XVII). In section 1 
they are more or less cylindric and sometimes curved. In section 
2 they are more or less elliptic, being broadest in Endothia para- 
sitica and narrowest in F’, fluens and £. longirostris. The greatest 
variation in size and shape of ascospores occurs in Z. fluens, as in- 
dicated by the measurements given in Table II. Anderson (1), Clin- 
ton (18), and Heald (89) describe and figure the ascospores of Z. 
parasitica as very obtuse and constricted at the septum. The writers 
have but rarely seen spores of this form. This may perhaps be due 
in part to different methods of treatment or to the age and condition 
of the material. Most of the ascospores studied by the writers have 
been mounted in the fluid medium described on page 30. Fresh 
specimens have also been studied in water mounts, but with the 
same general result. The writers are of the opinion, therefore, 
that the figures of the authors cited above do not represent the most 
common and characteristic form of ascospores of this species. (Com- 
pare Plate XVII, figs. 7 to 15.) 
43737°—Bull. 380—17——3 
