Howard. — On Trichosphaeria Sacchari , Mas see. 621 
the foci of the ellipse. In seven days Melanconium- conidia 
were noted at the edges of the stromata. The stromata 
were elliptical in shape, the larger one measured -59 x -52 mm. 
the smaller one -54 x -4 mm. on the surface of the cover-glass, 
and both extended about one millimetre downwards. Evidently 
there is a great tendency on the part of the mycelium de¬ 
veloped from a Melanconium- conidium to reproduce similar 
spores. Except as regards time, a natural and an artificial 
substratum appear to yield the same result, viz. the formation 
of a stroma on the exhaustion of the substratum from which 
Melanconium- conidia are developed. In this and the other 
drop-cultures fusion of the hyphae was extremely abundant. 
Working at Kew with a similar food-material Massee states 
that he observed no trace of fusion of hyphae in any 
of the numerous cultures examined when grown in sugar¬ 
cane solution 1 . This result is no doubt due to the different 
method of working adopted and to the different behaviour 
of the Fungus under Kew conditions. Massee seems to have 
used hanging-drops only for germination purposes and to 
have relied solely on flask-cultures for further development. 
In the host plant, on which Melanconium- stromata were 
abundant, I have frequently observed fusion of the hyphae 
in the cells near the epidermis, which in many cases are 
lined with a basket-shaped meshwork of fused hyphae. 
I have frequently observed similar structures in hanging- 
drop cultures of Melanconium-^ pores. Perhaps they are the 
beginnings of stromata which have ceased to grow on 
account of the exhaustion of the substratum. 
A series of plate-cultures with a similar food-material were 
made at the same time, and here again the formation of 
Melanconium- stromata was observed in great numbers, which 
after ten days were found to contain Melanconium- spores. 
Next flask-cultures were made of chlamydospores from 
previous plate-cultures in fifteen per cent, saccharose gelatine 
and Klebs’ solution, and also in raisin-extract containing 
1 On Trichosphaeria Sacchari, Ann. Bot., vol. vii, p. 128 (1893 -. 
