CYTOLOGY OF EOCRONARTIUM MUSCICOLA 
409 
controlling apparatus one spore might receive two or more nuclei 
and another none. The formation of septa in Eocronartium muscicola 
eliminates this possibility. 
Since a large number of nuclei in the rod-like condition are present 
in the preparations, it is evident that considerable time is consumed in 
the passage from the sterigma into the spore. This results from the 
great length of the nucleus, and probably also from the fact that the 
denser nature of the nucleus retards its flow through the canal. 
After the passage of all the cytoplasm into the spore (fig. 57), 
the spore is freed from the sterigma. The writer has not studied the 
phenomena attending the liberation of the spores, and cannot say 
whether or not they are forcibly discharged as in many other Basid- 
iomycetes. The mature spore contains a single globose nucleus. 
A binucleate spore has never been observed. 
Spore Germination 
In wet weather spores frequently begin to germinate on the sporo- 
phore where they have fallen among the basidia (fig. 59). They can be 
induced to germinate very readily in the laboratory in tap-water or in 
synthetic nutrient solutions (figs. 60, 61). Germination takes place 
by the formation of one or more germ-tubes, and the spore germinates 
in the uninucleate condition. The division of this nucleus has not 
been observed, and germ-tubes containing more than one nucleus have 
not been found. The writer in his previous paper (12) on Eocronar- 
tium muscicola discusses in detail the phenomena exhibited in spore 
germination and figures all the stages obtained. The reader is referred 
to the sections of this paper on spore germination and inoculation ex- 
periments for a complete discussion of the problems encountered in the 
attempts to obtain later stages in spore germination. The failure to 
obtain these has rendered impossible the explanation of the origin 
of the binucleate condition of the mycelium in this species. Since 
the spore germinates in the uninucleate condition, and all the cells of 
the endophytic mycelium and sporophore ever observed are binucleate, 
it is probable that the binucleate series of cells arises in the germ-tube 
soon after germination, but they have not been observed. No clamp 
connections have been found either on the endophytic hyphae or in 
the sporophore. It is not impossible that they may be produced for a 
brief period on the young mycelium, but their absence on older threads 
renders such a supposition extremely doubtful. Consequently the re- 
