the Ascocarp in Monascus. 217 
mycelium of the fungus, on which conidia, or zoosporangia, 
and sexual organs are formed. An alternation of generations 
is thus presented by the life-history of some of these Fungi. 
In every instance the ordinary mycelium of the plant repre- 
sents the gametophyte, while the sporophyte is represented 
in such forms as Phytophthora omnivor a , De Bary, by the 
promycelium, and in such forms as Albugo Candida by the 
oospore itself, being unrepresented in the third case quoted 
above. Owing to the great diversity in behaviour shown by 
the members of the group from the period of fertilization 
onwards, it is difficult to select one particular form as a type 
for comparison with Monascus ; but there can be no doubt of 
the relationship of the various members of the group to one 
another, and therefore a general comparison will serve. 
Starting with the formation of the sexual organs, the first 
point of difference is the formation of a special egg-cell or 
cells in the Oomycetes, no differentiation of such a structure 
being apparent in Monascus . Some or all of the nuclei of 
the ascogonium of the latter are, however, in all probability 
fertilized by the male nuclei, and these may hence be regarded 
as functionally similar, although apparently undifferentiated. 
The papilla of the antheridium of the former group, which 
penetrates through the periplasm of the oogonium to fertilize 
the oospheres, has perhaps its analogue in the small papilla 
produced by the antheridium of Monascus at the time of 
fusion between this organ and the ascogonium. The different 
degree of development in the two cases may be due to the 
fact that in the former the oospheres are specially rounded 
distinct bodies lying within the periplasm, and therefore not 
so easily reached by the male elements as the female nuclei 
of the latter, distributed evenly in the undifferentiated proto- 
plasm of the ascogonium. After fusion in Monascus a special 
fertilized cell, the central cell, is cut out of the ascogonium, 1 
the term ‘ fertilized cell ’ being here used in the sense described 
by Harper (10) for the corresponding structure in Pyronema , 
and it is then equivalent to the oospores of the former. 
Instead, however, of becoming clothed with a specially 
