5 1 8 Fischer .— The Biology of A r miliaria mucida , Schrader. 
bottom of the dish were used for starting cultures, as also were spores 
obtained in a similar way in the laboratory from the carpophores brought in 
on the first occasion. These spores were taken off with a sterilized needle 
and inoculated into nutritive media. 
Some of the cultures were started by means of a neat contrivance 
invented by Dr. Munch and described by him in his inaugural dissertation 
( 18 ). A piece of cloth (velvet is very suitable) with a circular hole cut out 
of its centre, of a smaller diameter than the mouth of the vessel that is to 
contain the culture, is sewn on to a piece of wire mesh. It is best to cut the 
cloth so as to allow a sufficient overlap to fold back and cover any object 
that is placed on the wire. 
The stipe is cut off a carpophore and after testing it to make sure that 
it is actively shedding its spores, the cap is deposited on the wire net in such 
a position that a portion shedding spores comes directly over the hole in the 
cloth. The whole is thoroughly wetted, and the superfluous moisture is 
vigorously shaken out in order to avoid any flow of water. With one 
hand the vessel containing the culture solution is opened, and the wire 
net with the cap is slipped on with the other with the least possible 
interval, and is so fitted that the hole in the cloth coincides with the 
mouth of the vessel. After the lapse of a few minutes, long enough to allow 
of the deposition of a sufficient number of spores, but not for the drying up of 
the cloth, the apparatus is removed and the stopper slipped back with the 
same caution as before. As long as the apparatus is thoroughly damp it is 
only the spores that are thrown off by the fungus and which pass through 
the meshes without touching the wire that can fall on the nutritive solution. 
All spores that touch the damp wire, including foreign ones that may have 
been previously adhering to any part of it or to the cap, will stick to it and 
will not fall through. It will be seen that in this way one can secure, 
practically with certainty, and without previous tedious separate eliminating 
cultures , a quite pure culture. Dr. Munch has employed this method 
with practically unfailing success in the course of many hundreds of 
pure cultures, and I have also obtained good results with it on a smaller 
scale. Dr. Miinch, however, will be the first to agree that its results must 
not be accepted uncorroborated by other cultures started in other ways. 
Of course, this appliance can only be used with fungi which throw off their 
spores more or less violently. 
The culture solutions employed were the following : — 
For observation of the germination of the spores : hanging drops 
in moist chambers of prune juice, beer- wort jelly, sterilized water, and meat 
and malt extract jelly. 
For observation of the development of the mycelium and as a source 
from which to obtain other cultures by inoculation : Petri-dishes containing 
beer- wort jelly and meat and malt extract jelly. 
