118 Murphy .— The Morphology and Cytology of the 
portion of the constituents, was never really found, but the solution recom¬ 
mended by Chamberlain 1 for marine Algae (made up with fresh water 
however) gave good results. Another solution which was much used was 
made up of chromic acid, 0-35 per cent., glacial acetic acid, 0-5 per cent., 
and water, but this was not quite as good as the former. Many other 
concentrations and solutions were also experimented with, including 
Schaffner’s chrom-acetic acid, J uel’s reagent (acetic acid, 3 per cent.; zinc 
chloride, 3 per cent. ; 70 per cent, alcohol, 96 per cent.), and others, but 
none gave satisfactory results. Flemming’s fluid, or any combination con¬ 
taining osmic acid, was not tried owing to its effect on the oil globules in 
the oospore. 
Material was fixed by cutting out pieces of medium which bore a 
growth of the Fungus and transferring them direct to the fixing reagent. 
Owing to the opacity of the medium it was impossible to determine the 
stage of development of the sexual organs, so material had to be fixed 
serially at given intervals of time to ensure a complete record. A know¬ 
ledge of how the Fungus fruits helps to this end. If a set plate of oat agar 
be inoculated in the centre with a moderately large piece of fungus-bearing 
medium (conidia being practically absent this is the only practicable way) 
there ensues a rapid growth, visible to the naked eye but at first not aerial. 
It remains sterile for about three days, and then fruit bodies are formed in 
the oldest parts of the culture and spread progressively outwards until the 
limits of the plate are reached. Thus on the fourth day youngest stages 
may be found just outside the zone where they appeared the day before. 
This goes on fairly regularly for what may be called the first crop, but 
young organs continue to arise all over the plate for several days even after 
the fruiting area has reached the margin. To secure material in regular 
serial order it is better to discard a plate once some of the medium has been 
cut out and fixed. The cutting disturbs the regular sequence of events, at 
least in its immediate neighbourhood. This is seen if a piece of medium be 
cut out of a young culture in the area where growth is taking place. Sexual 
organs are formed prematurely on the side of the cut proximal to the point 
of origin of the growth, and their formation is delayed on the distal side. 
This may be easily explained if we consider that cutting across the hyphae 
must cause a concentration of food on the former side, with a consequent 
tendency towards fruiting, but a diminution of it on the latter, with the 
opposite result. 2 The usual procedure was to inoculate a number of set 
plates (twelve to twenty) at the same time, and from the second day 
1 Methods in Plant Histology. Chicago, 1905. 
2 Experience gained in several years’ work with this Fungus seems to indicate that the stimulus 
for the formation of resting bodies is not to be found in lack of food or other unfavourable condition, 
whatever it may be in other forms. It is possible that the comparative lack of asexual organs of 
reproduction may be an explanation of this phenomenon. 
