the A scocarp in Monascus. 201 
around these other hyphae springing from their bases were 
developed, so as to invest them. In the latter stages he gave 
a figure (Fig. 7) corresponding to Uyeda’s Fig. 10, to which 
the same arguments can be applied as have been already 
given for the latter. It may then fairly be concluded that 
Harz’s Physomyces heterosporus , or, as Schroter named it, 
Monascus heterosporus , forms its perithecia in the same manner 
as M. purpureus. 
With regard to the two species described by Van Tieghem, 
M. ruber and M. mucoroides , there is not a great deal to be 
said. We have this observer’s authority for considering 
M. purpureus as a member of the same genus, and from this 
fact it might be deduced that he had fallen into the same 
error as the subsequent authors. There is not the same amount 
of evidence at hand, however, since no figures accompany his 
paper. It is of course quite possible that the Fungi described 
by him possess the structure which he attributed to them, but, 
in view of the subsequent errors in connexion with apparently 
similar forms, one has considerable reason for concluding that 
these two species are allied to the ‘ Samsu ’ fungus. 
Having now examined the relationships of these various 
forms to one another, and having seen that there are the 
strongest grounds for regarding them as members of a single 
genus, there remains yet another point to be discussed before 
the characters of this genus are set forth. It concerns the 
behaviour and function of the structure which has been 
termed above the ‘antheridial branch.’ 
It has been shown that a fusion occurs between this organ 
and the ascogonium, preceding the development of the latter 
with its subsidiary structures into the perithecium, and that 
this fusion is probably accompanied by a passage of nuclei 
from the former into the latter, and subsequent nuclear fusion 
in the latter : in other words, that a sexual act takes place 
between the antheridium and the ascogonium. Harz and 
Van Tieghem have not described any definite organ corre- 
sponding to the antheridial branch, doubtless having observed 
it and regarded it as one of the first-formed investing hyphae. 
