confluens and the Morphology of the Ascocarp. 357 
subsequent pairing of the male and female nuclei in the 
oogonium. The more general significance of these phenomena 
I shall discuss further on. 
While the conjugating tube is still in open connexion with 
the oogonium, and in some cases even earlier than this, we 
find papillae budding out over the lower surface of the 
oogonium. The base of the oogonium is also enveloped at 
this stage with the vegetative branches which are to develop 
the hypothecium (Figs. 14, 15). These vegetative enveloping 
hyphae are not distributed evenly around the whole base of 
the oogonium. To understand their arrangement fully the 
study of more or less nearly horizontal sections through the 
rosettes of reproductive cells is necessary. Fig. 18 shows 
such a section at an earlier stage prior to fertilization, and 
from it a number of facts can be made out as to the relation 
of the oogonium and antheridium to each other, and also as 
to the relation of the pairs of sexual cells to each other in the 
cluster. This section shows three pairs, which is perhaps 
a fair average number for the form of the Fungus I have 
studied. It is seen at once that the oogonia are arranged 
in a triangle and that the antheridia are turned toward their 
outer surfaces. This is quite a universal rule in the cases 
examined. While the antheridium may originate at almost 
any point near the base of the oogonium, it almost without 
exception takes a path in its growth which brings it to that 
side of its oogonium which is turned away from the other 
oogonia of the group. It can be seen, further, that in one 
case almost the full length of the conjugating tube can be 
seen although the section is inclined at a considerable angle 
to the vertical, showing that the axis of growth of the 
oogonium and tube is not a vertical line but is inclined out¬ 
ward from the base of the median vertical axis of the group. 
The distribution of the hypothecial hyphae can here be readily 
seen, and it is interesting to note that the young vegetative 
filaments which are to form the hypothecium and paraphyses 
are all growing upward between the oogonia of the group 
so that the outer surfaces of the latter are left entirely un- 
