Shear: An Undescribed Ascomycete 241 



beneath or on the surface of the agar. The fungus evidently is 

 related to the same general group of ascomycetes to which Euro- 

 tium belongs. 



The first conidia are borne on loose-branched, spreading hyphae 

 on lateral as well as terminal, short branches or sporophores, as 

 shown in fig. I a. The spores are nearly hyaline, non-septate, 

 rather variable in form and size, and are held together in groups 

 or small masses at the apex of the sporophore by their mucous 

 envelope. The perithecia have a thin, membranaceous wall with- 

 out an ostiole. The manner in which the asci arise has not been 

 determined. The perithecia appear to be filled at first with a 

 granular protoplasm which becomes vacuolate as shown in fig. 2 a, 

 and the young asci begin to develop toward the center. No signs 



Fig. 2. Allescheria boydii. a, Median section of a perithecium showing 

 young asci ; b, submedian section showing a nearly mature ascus with asco- 

 spores X 53°; c, single ascus; d, ascospores, X 750. 



of hyphae have been observed in the perithecia. The asci become 

 free and the ascus wall disappears as soon as the spores are mature. 

 The coremium form is of the type which has been described by 

 v. Hoehnel as Dendrostilbella. The synnema consist of smoky- 

 brown, parallel hyphae which expand at the top to form the conif- 

 erous head. The fertile hyphae of the head branch in more or less 

 dendroid sporophores, producing the conidia at the apex of the 

 ultimate branches. These conidia are all so similar in form, size 

 and color that they cannot easily be distinguished from the earlier 

 conidia produced on effuse hyphae. 



The fungus is evidently most closely related to the organism 

 described by Costantin in 1896 2 as Eurotiopsis gayoni, which was 

 found growing on meal and other organic substances at Paris. As 



2 Costantin, J. Eurotiopsis, Nouveau genre d'Ascomycetes. Bull. Soc. 

 Bot. France, 40: 2d Ser. 15: 236-238, M. 1893. 



