80 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
tion have been Sordaria fimicola, Neotiella albocincta , and Hydno- 
bolites. 
Most of the material was gathered out-of-doors, but the Sordarias 
and the Podosporas were taken from pure cultures. Several species 
of Sordaria and Podospora are readily obtainable from horse- or 
cow-dung brought into the laboratory and kept moist. Pure cul¬ 
tures of any particular species can then be secured by carefully 
transferring to sterilized dung or other suitable soil, or by catching 
the spores on a glass slide and sowing them. The objection to 
dung as a substratum is that it contains sand and small pieces of 
straw, some of which are sure to adhere to the preserved material 
and so interfere with cutting. This difficulty was avoided by using 
green string-beans or dung covered by a thin layer of ground 
sphagnum moss, on both of which nearly as abundant crops can 
be grown as on the normal substratum. 
Sordaria fimicola was the most serviceable of all the Sordariaceae 
examined. It is one of the commonest of coprophilous fungi and 
lends itself to cultivation particularly well. Moreover it matures 
within a week or ten days after the spores are sown. Further, the 
perithecial wall is thin and so fixation with such reagents as Flem¬ 
ming’s weaker solution is possible, the nuclei are comparatively 
large, and the ascus is not loaded up with a great deal of diffused 
reserve matter. Material of Sordaria fimicola was preserved at 
nearly every hour of both the day and the night, but it was found 
that the various phases in the development of the asci may occur 
at any time if the proper conditions of temperature prevail. Most 
of the Podosporas are difficult of fixation. Experiments were made 
in snipping off the jminted ends of their perithecia with fine scis¬ 
sors, but the results were rather indifferent. 
Several species of wood fungi were examined, such as Massciria 
vomitoria , Massaria platani, Propolis faginea , many of which 
were gathered in February and March. The most promising of 
these were the Massarias. 
It is worthy of note in this connection, that the apothecium of 
TJrnula craterium is well started in the autumn, although the asci 
do not make their appearance until the following spring. While 
collecting in November, 1901, in the neighborhood of Bedford, 
Mass., a number of specimens were found on the underside of oak 
sticks lying on the ground. They looked like giant Podosporas, 
