the A scocarp in Monascus. 1 7 7 
parts of the surface are seen to bulge slightly, as though 
there were considerable pressure being exerted inside, 
which forced an expansion at the unclasped points. In a 
few cases I have seen a comparatively conspicuous bulging 
at one point of the ascocarp. This may be an impor- 
tant fact, and will be referred to later as possibly repre- 
senting the formation of the first ascogenous hypha (see 
Fig. 11, a). 
After this stage the optical effects produced by the swollen 
central cell and the swelling and flattening investing hyphae, 
together with the innumerable oil drops, render further details 
invisible for some considerable period in the development of 
the ascocarp. 
The general impressions produced up to the stage when 
the contents of the interior of the fructification again become 
visible are as follows : — 
At some part of the interior a small spherical space becomes 
visible. This is clearly defined on account of its optical 
properties differing from those of the rest of the ascocarp. 
The position of this space is not necessarily the same in all 
cases. Sometimes it appears towards one side of the ascocarp 
and sometimes apparently in the centre (see Fig. 13, a). It 
increases in size until it fills almost the whole of the interior 
of the fructification. As it increases in size it loses its 
apparent homogenous appearance ; and soon, when compara- 
tively large, presents the appearance of being filled with 
numerous large vacuoles. This apparent structure remains 
until the contents of the ascocarp become more clearly visible 
(see Fig. 13, b). 
As the contents gradually become more clearly visible, the 
misty appearance which has hitherto obscured the develop- 
ment is slowly lost, and it becomes possible to distinguish by 
degrees a mass of branching hyphae in the centre of the 
ascocarp, occupying the previous vacuolated space. It is 
undoubtedly to these hyphae that the appearance of c vacuola- 
tion ’ was due. 
The courses of the hyphae cannot be traced, since the 
N 
