32 
Kingo Miyabe. — On the Life-history of 
see two or more perithecia completely coalesced into one 
irregular body. The size of the perithecia varied a great 
deal ; but commonly it was between 300 and 450 micromil- 
limeters in diameter. 
When a ripened ascus was placed free in water, it began in 
a few minutes to elongate a little with a corresponding slight 
diminution in diameter. The internal tension continually 
increasing by the rapid absorption of water caused finally 
the rupture of the outer layer of the wall, possessed of a 
limited power of extensibility, at the apex of the ascus. 
Relieved of the external resistance, the inner layer elongated 
in a short time (5-10 seconds) to about two and a-half times 
the original length of the ascus, carrying with it the spores 
and protoplasmic envelopes. In none of a large number of 
the free asci observed under water was there any ejection of 
the spores from the tips of the elongated tubes. Every one 
of them germinated in the asci just as they were grouped, 
sending the hyphae through the delicate wall of the tubes. 
Two matured perithecia were placed in a moist chamber, 
and kept overnight. The next morning it was found that a 
large number of the spores had been ejected, some to the 
distance of seven millimeters. But the greater part of the 
spores dropped near the ostioles. They were scattered, and 
not in groups of eight. During the night, every one of them 
had germinated. It is quite probable that the spores in the 
present case might have been ejected successively from the 
tips of the elongated asci, which forced their way through the 
very narrow orifices of the papillae, after the manner of some 
of the allied plants, as Sphaeria Lemaneae. 
The ascospores when sown in nutrient fluids germinated 
of and grew vigorously, just in the same manner as in the case 
the Macrosporium- spores. In every sowing of the ascospores, 
only the perithecia and Macrosporium-s pores were forpned on 
their hyphae. Pycnidia and other forms of conidia, generally 
attributed to Pleospora , have not been observed in any of my 
closed cultures. 
Before determining the specific position of our plant, it may 
