Dodge: Life History of Ascobolus magnificus 121 



year by mounting primordia directly from Flemming's weak fixa- 

 tive (after washing) into glycerine jelly. The darkening effect 

 of the fixative is an aid in photographing the primordia. 



I have previously described the young apothecium (8), point- 

 ing out that the hymenium is never covered by a pseudoperidium 

 of sterile cells, such as we find in A. furfuraceus. A. magnificus 

 is exactly like Pyronema in this respect. That an apothecium is 

 " at first closed, then opens," in various ways or that the " hymen- 

 ium is exposed from the first," these are specific but not neces- 

 sarily generic or family characters in the Discomycetes. 



In any fertile culture there can be found a great number of 

 aborted ascogonia. The trichogyne may sometimes be unable to 

 connect with the antheridium (Text fig. 16), or this structure 

 may not mature sufficiently. In Text fig. 18 a good antheridium 

 is shown to have developed but something evidently prevented 

 fertilization. The paired structures shown in Text fig. 17 did 

 not develop completely. Owing to the large size of apothecia of 

 this species only a relatively small number reach maturity in any 

 one culture, but hundreds of primordia are developed in dung 

 cultures and large numbers of apothecia begin growth without 

 maturing unless the older apothecia are removed or die out. 

 Occasionally I have found that the ascogonium affects a weak 

 union with a club-shaped structure developing on the same hypha, 

 suggesting that rarely both sex organs may arise from the same 

 hypha, and other cases where the trichogyne becomes attached 

 to the stalk cell of the ascogonium (Text fig. 16). All such 

 irregularities or abnormalities appear to come to nothing. In 

 most of my text figures the hypha bearing the antheridium 

 appears to lie below that from which the ascogonium arises. 

 This is not necessarily true for every case, as the fertile hyphae 

 may run parallel to each other or the branch bearing the an- 

 theridium may lie uppermost and run at any angle to the other. 



ascogonium have made their appearance. The antheridium arises from the 

 hypha crossing at an angle. 16. An aborted archicarp, the trichogyne appears 

 to have become slightly attached to the basal cell of the archicarp. 17. A 

 pair of aborted structures such as are frequently found in cultures. 18. 

 " Durchwachsung," the stalk of the archicarp. A well-developed antheri- 

 dium is present but the trichogyne did not function for some reason. 



