OCCURRENCE IN N.S.VV. OF PERFECT STAGE OF SCLEROTINIA. 217 



The ground on to which these mummies fell, had remained 

 undisturbed since being roughly worked in the spring of 

 1920. Consequently, beneath the trees, were numerous 

 pockets between large clods, in which mummies had 

 accumulated. 



Meteorological records show that in the winter of 1921 

 several frosts occurred. During the early part of Septem- 

 ber fine muggy weather prevailed, but on the 16th 165 

 points of rain fell. From the 17th - 21st inclusive, pleasant 

 warm weather was experienced and the morning of the 

 22nd dawned fine and cool. 



The Occurrence of the Apothecia. 

 On this occasion a search was made on the western side 

 of a large apricot tree under which lay hundreds of mum- 

 mies. The overlying debris of leaves and grass was cleared 

 away from a pocket about eighteen inches from the tree 

 trunk and about six inches wide and three inches deep. At 

 the bottom of this pocket a fully mature apothecium was 

 found. The small yellow-brown cup was projecting from 

 a light covering of decaying leaves and finely powdered 

 soil. Scraping this covering away, the stipe and parent 

 stroma of the apothecium were revealed. Tne cup, 9 mm. 

 in diameter, was connected to the black stroma by a stipe 

 8 mm. long, and of a diameter varying from 0*5 — 1 mm. 



In a neighbouring pocket another apothecium was found. 

 This one was, however, not fully mature. The small flat- 

 tened yellow-brown cup, only 2 mm. in diameter was con- 

 nected by a stipe 12 mm. long to a stroma which still 

 enclosed the apricot seed. (Plate XV, fig. 1.) 



In my opinion, the stroma in both cases was produced 

 from a mummy formed in the previous summer (1920-21), 

 for there had been no visible "brown rot" during the 

 seasons 1918-19 and 1919-20. 



