the A sco carp in Monascus. 175 
meant is that there is no large continuous surface left un- 
covered and unclasped, on every side by investing hyphae. 
But here and there the clasping hyphae leave exposed 
small portions of the surface of the central cell, and in 
this sense the investment is incomplete. Nevertheless, the 
whole of the central cell is clasped by the hyphae (see 
Figs. 11, d ; and 12). 
In some cases the main investing hypha does not itself 
become closely applied to the central cell, this function being 
left to some of its branches and their succeeding branches 
(see Fig. 12). In other cases, after growing closely applied 
to the cell for part of its course, it continues to grow for some 
distance beyond it (see Fig. 11, a). Occasionally also some 
of its branches do not become closely applied to the central 
cell (see Fig. 12). 
In those cases which have been described up to the 
present, all the investing hyphae have originated from a 
single outgrowth from the main hypha, just beneath the 
ascogonium. Occasionally, however, the investment of the 
central cell is completed by the growth of one or more 
other hyphae from the same region (see Fig. 12). The 
development of investing hyphae is often followed by the 
development of small branched hyphae on other parts of 
the hypha bearing the ascocarp. They are sometimes 
irregularly branched, but often the branches are produced 
in pairs and grow in a curved manner, as if clasping a 
spherical body. Fig. 14 shows examples of both kinds. 
The details of the development of the investing hyphae are 
seen fairly easily in the earlier stages under an immersion 
lens, but with lower powers of magnification they can be but 
imperfectly traced. In the later stages, even with the use of 
high * powers of magnification, it becomes very difficult to 
observe with certainty what is happening. 
The hyphae are at first very small, compared with the 
ordinary hyphae of the fungus and with the archicarp. Their 
protoplasm is very dense and less transparent than that of 
the central cell. Consequently the course of development 
