the Ascocarp in Monastics, 213 
genous branches from the former. The sterile hyphae, which 
form the investing hyphae and contribute so largely to the 
actual vegetative portion of the ascocarp in the higher 
Ascomycetes, may be regarded as a secondary development, 
affording the ascogenous hyphae a better opportunity of pro- 
ducing asci successfully ; and it is the form taken by their 
development which determines the form of the mature asco- 
carp, and therefore serves to create the distinctions which 
characterize the various families. In Monascus we have 
a form that approaches very nearly this supposed ancestral 
type. It possesses antheridia and ascogonia which are fully 
functional, though simple in type and not highly differen- 
tiated, being in fact typical of a primitive form. The investing 
hyphae, moreover, are very subordinate, the investment being 
rudimentary as compared with those of the higher Ascomy- 
cetes, while the formation of subsidiary clasping hyphae (see 
Fig. 14) on the lower part of the hypha bearing the archi- 
carp and on the neighbouring hyphae may be considered as 
a primitive form of the much more highly developed invest- 
ment of the other types. It may be urged that these 
structures are vestiges, and that the fungus is a much reduced 
form, but the complete retention of sexuality together with 
the feebly differentiated nature of the sexual organs seems to 
be entirely opposed to this idea. 
The gap which separates Monascus from the supposed 
ancestral type is small. The distinguishing features are the 
occurrence of investing hyphae and the envelopment of 
the ascogenous hyphae and asci by the enlarged central cell. 
An explanation of the development of these features may 
perhaps be arrived at by a consideration of their probable 
functions. The investing hyphae in the higher Ascomycetes 
undoubtedly serve to protect the ascogenous hyphae and also 
the ascogonium, while producing them. This function also 
seems to be exercised by them in the case of Monascus , 
although by the nature of the structure only the ascogonium 
is directly protected, and that incompletely. The cutinization 
of their walls in the later stages of the development of the 
