confluens and the Morphology of the As cocarp, 33 3 
in which he left our knowledge of Sphaerotheca , having in 
each case described the sexual apparatus without being able 
to prove a fusion of the sexual cells. At that time, however, 
it was supposed that mere contact of the male and female 
cells might be sufficient for fertilization. De Bary was 
naturally unable to determine the exact function of the 
intermediate cell, or trichogyne, as he later called it. He 
describes the paired bodies as in intimate contact throughout 
their whole length, a statement which is corrected by Tulasne 
(36, p. 218 ). 
In 1866 (36) the Tulasne brothers published further results 
of their investigations on Pyronema , in which they describe 
the fusion of the paracyst (antheridium) with the tube at 
the apex of the macrocyst (oogonium). They were able 
to observe the actual union of the protoplasm of the con¬ 
necting tube and paracyst-cells through a rounded pore 
formed at their point of contact. This pore they described 
as having a thickened border ( bonrrelet ). The connecting 
tube is cut off from the oogonium before its fusion with the 
paracyst. They also recognized the difficulty of determining 
which of the two cells is the active organ in effecting the 
conjugation. In some cases the connecting tube seemed to 
extend over more than its proportion of the distance necessary 
to bring the two together. Again the paracyst seemed to 
anticipate this action of the connecting tube. They further 
observed, what is quite true from a surface view of the facts, 
that if the protoplasmic contents of the conjugating cells 
do influence each other reciprocally, this influence does not 
produce any appreciable change in their appearance. The 
interpretation of the fusion they leave uncertain, but point 
out that the conjugated cells ultimately wither and become 
empty (especially the macrocysts), while the filaments grow 
up about them which are to form the ascocarps ( thkques ) 
of the Fungus. They observed no development of branches 
from the macrocyst, and apparently supposed that the asci 
arose from the filaments that build the envelope around it. 
They give a long series of beautiful figures of the conjugating 
