82 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
likewise more objectionable reserve matter in the way, and very few 
spores are found in an asciis. 
The ascus in Hydnobolites springs from the penultimate or termi¬ 
nal cell of the tip of an ascogenous hypha (pi. 11, fig. 78), so that 
in this respect it may depart from the conventional type. From the 
first it has the spherical form. In the early stages its protoplasm is 
granular and irregularly vacuolated throughout, but little attention 
was paid to the nuclear or other phenomena belonging to this 
period. 
The condition represented in figure 1 (pi. 7) was taken as the 
starting point for a more careful examination. At this stage there 
is a very distinct differentiation of the cytoplasm. The greater part 
of the ascus is occupied by large vacuoles that are filled mainly with 
watery sap, while there is a small mass of thick protoplasm in the 
upper part of the sac, against the wall or removed but a short dis¬ 
tance from it. Viewed from above, this mass is seen to be of a dis¬ 
coid form, and viewed laterally of a somewhat lenticular shape 
(pi. 7, figs. 2, 3). A large nucleus lies in the center or along the 
lower border of the thick protoplasm. It is limited by a clearly 
definable membrane, possesses a comparatively large nucleolus, and 
contains a very small amount of chromatin. The last is arranged 
in the form of fine granules on a filar achromatic network, but the 
nuclear sap has such an affinity for stains that these features are 
often almost obscured. 
Outside of the nuclear wall at about this time and closely in con- 
tact with it there appear small granules that stain a bright red with 
Flemming’s triple, and black with iron-haematoxylin. These gran¬ 
ulations have been observed elsewhere and are probably the same 
as Guilliermond’s (: 02) “ corpuscules metachromatiques.” That they 
are not artifacts as Harper (’ 99 ) supposed for similar appearances 
in Lachnea scatellata is very obvious from the fact of their constant 
occurrence and rather characteristic features at different stages. 
Both the nucleus and the dense protoplasmic mass increase in 
size, the latter frequently passing through a vacuolated condition as 
represented in figure 2 (pi. 7), while the extranuclear bodies tend 
to become fewer and larger. This vacuolated condition is succeeded 
by one (pi. 7, fig. 3) in which the protoplasm is finely granular, 
though marked by coarse strands that tend to radiate from the 
nucleus. The latter is still surrounded by the granules or extra- 
