CARPOSPOREM, 
Fig. 204.— niagrammatic section of the fructification 
of Ascoboltcs furfuracens (after Janczewski) ; m myce- 
lium ; c carpogonium ; / pollinodium ; j- ascogepous fila- 
ments ; a the asci ; the sterile tissue from which the 
paraphyses h are developed. 
a completely developed fructification, I select as an example Ascobolus furfuraceus^ 
a Discomycete described by Janczewski. Fig. 204 represents a vertical section of the 
entire fructification of this Fungus, whilst still 
in connection with a portion of the mycelium, 
somewhat diagrammatically drawn for the sake 
of clearness. The carpogonium c and the 
pollinodium / arise from branches of the my- 
celium. The former consists of a row of thick 
short cells, and is considerably curved; the 
delicate branches of the latter become closely 
applied to the anterior portion of the carpo- 
gonium. In consequence of fertilisation, one 
of the central cells of the carpogonium (which 
is designated the ascogonium) grows more 
vigorously than the others, assumes a some- 
what spherical form, and developes by gem- 
mation numerous filaments from which, at a 
later period, the asci are developed. In the 
meanwhile there has been formed from the 
hyphae bearing the sexual organs a mass of 
filaments which completely invests the carpo- 
gonium, and which forms the large sterile por- 
tion of the fructification. Its hyphae are so 
aggregated as to form a pseudo-parenchyma, 
r in Fig. 204 being the cortical layer, and// the internal portion, in which the sterile 
hyphae are diagrammatically indicated. The ascogenous filaments which have sprung 
from the ascogonium continue to grow forming a layer ss within the fructification, the 
subhymenial layer, and send upwards thick club-shaped branches, the asci, within which 
the spores are developed. In this way the hymenium aa \s formed, and it is com- 
pleted by the upgrowth between the asci of parallel branches, the so-called paraphyses, 
from the sterile portion. Finally the cortex r gives way at the apex, the hymenium 
comes to lie at the surface and expands in the manner represented in Fig. 205, in 
order that the spores may readily escape from the asci. In Pezi%a conßuens, the 
species in which the sexual reproduction of the Ascomycetes was first discovered by 
De Bary in 1863, the process is as follows, according to De Bary's and Tulasne's 
exhaustive researches: — The mycelium of P. conßuens grows on the ground; branches 
arise at particular points of its hyphae which are directed upwards and again branch 
abundantly ; at the end of the branchlets the organs of conjugation or fertilisation 
are produced in large numbers close together, forming rosettes. The terminal cells 
of the stronger branchlets swell up into ovoid vesicles (Fig. 206, a), which put out 
a usually crooked prolongation (/). From another cell of the same branch lying 
beneath this carpogonium grows a club-shaped branchlet, the pollinodium, the apex 
of which (i) unites with the prolongation just mentioned. After this has taken place, 
a number of fine hyphae {h) shoot out of the filament which bears these organs, and 
these surround the rosette of the organ of conjugation, enclosing it in a dense felt. 
This felt forms the body of the fructification ; upon its upper side densely crowded 
hyphae immediately rise up to form the hymenial layer ; finally the fructification becomes 
an apothecium, which possesses somewhat the form represented in Fig. 205, and pro- 
duces the ascospores in its asci. Woronin observed similar phenomena in P. granulosa 
and scutellata. In these species branches consisting of three or more cells arise from 
the mycelium; the terminal cell swells out into a globular or ovoid form, without, 
however, putting out a prolongation; from the cell lying beneath it arise two or 
more slender filaments which attach themselves closely to the former. The conju- 
gating apparatus now becomes densely enveloped in numerous hyphae which oi iginate 
