CYTOLOGICAL STUDIES OF THE LOWER BASIDIOMY- 
CETES 
I. DACRYMYCES 
E. M. Gilbert 
The discovery of the fusion nucleus in the hasidium of the 
higher Basidiomyeetes, and the further fact that the cells from 
which the basidia arise are binucleated, have made it of vital 
interest to discover, if possible, the origin of this binucleated con¬ 
dition. 
With this end in view, a morphological and cytological study 
has been made of various species of Tremella, Exidia, Dacry- 
myces, Calocera, and Auricularia, in an endeavor to work out 
the life history from spore to spore, to discover, if possible, at 
what stage in the development of the fungus the cells first con¬ 
tain two nuclei, the manner in which the two nuclei become asso¬ 
ciated in the cell, and the behavior of the nuclei in subsequent 
development. 
The work was begun in 1906. In 1911 a progress report (16) 
on some of the studies was made. A report, on the nuclear phe¬ 
nomena as observed in Auricularia, was made at a meeting of 
the Wisconsin Academy of Letters, Arts, and Sciences in April, 
1911, and the following year a report on the nuclear phenomena 
as observed in Tremella and Exidia was given before the so¬ 
ciety at its annual meeting. The observations made on the vari¬ 
ous forms have been summarized in a thesis presented in 1914 
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Wis¬ 
consin. 
As the writer had not been able to locate definitely the origin 
of the binucleate condition, it did not seem that the material was 
worthy of publication; but papers which have appeared in re¬ 
cent years make it seemingly worth while to publish any dis- 
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