Feb. 23, 1924 
Life History of Grape Rootrot Fungus 
615 
And later: 
The conclusion at which we have arrived is that Pilacre is a conidiophorous fungus, 
not in any sense a Basidiomycete, and that it is not in the remotest degree allied to the 
Auricularieae and Tremellineae, but is a stage of the Discomycetous genus Roesleria. 
This suggestion can no longer be entertained. No conidial stage has 
ever appeared in the life cycle of Roesleria which the writer has grown* 
to maturity many times in single ascospore cultures. Conidia are pro¬ 
duced freely in cultures of the Basidiomycete Pilacre petersii. Roesleria 
is hypogaeous, developing large quantities of ascospores which can not 
be discharged into the air in any way comparable to that prevailing in 
most other Ascomycetes, the asci deliquesce allowing the spores to mass 
together in the head, which is at first covered .with a peridium-like weft of 
hyphae. This is soon broken away by the crowding of the spores. 
Spore distribution is probably brought about by disturbances of the soil 
by insects, earthworms, or by cultivation. 
It has been pointed out that there are three distinct fungi having fruit 
bodies which are more or less similar in appearance: One, a lichen grow- 
i ng on bark, Calicium ( Coniocybe) pallidum ; another, a Discomycete grow¬ 
ing on roots, Roesleria hypogaea; and third, Pilacre petersii, the primitive 
Basidiomycete of Brefeld. If Pilacre is an ascogenous genus, P. petersii 
does not belong with it. Certainly R. hypogaea is not a lichen. There 
is no basis for considering either Coniocybe pallida or Pilacre petersii 
synonymous with Roesleria hypogaea, 
LITERATURE CITED 
(i) Arbois de JubainvillE, A. d’ 
1884. LE POURRimfo de la vigne. In Ann. Soc. Emulation Dept. Vosges, 1884, 
p. 229-232. 
{2) Berkeley, m. J. 
1872. fungus on THE decaying roots OF a pear Tree. In Gard. Chron., 
1872, p. 40, fig. 8. 
(3) -and Broome, C. E. 
1850-59. notices of British fungi. In Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 2, 
v, 5, p. 365-380, pi. 1!”i2, 1850; ser. 3, v. 3, p. 356-377, 1859. 
(4) Boudier, Emile 
1907. histoire ET classification des discomyc&tes d’Europe, vii, 221 p. 
Paris. 
(5) Brefeld, Oscar 
1888. basidiomyceten ii. His Untersuchungen aus dem Gesammtgebiete der 
Mykologie, Heft 7, 178 p., 11 pi. Leipzig. 
<6) [Cooke, M. C.] 
1878. vine diseases. In Grevillea, v. 6, p. 147-150. 
(7) |Corda, A. C. J. 
1854. iconum fungorum. t. 6. Pragae. 
(8) Elliott, Jessie S. Bayliss, and Grove, W. B. 
1916. roesleria pallida sacc. In Ann. Bot., v. 30, p. 407-414, 11 fig. 
{9) Ellis, J. B., and Everhart, B. M. 
1900. new species of fungi from various localities with notes on some 
published species. In Bul. Torrey Bot. Club, v. 27, p. 49-64. 
(10) Fries, E. M. 
1818. symbolae gasteromycorum. Fasc. 3, p. 17-25. Lundae. 
(n) — 
1824. schedulae criticae de lichenibus exsiccatis sueciae. 20 p. Lou- 
dini Gothorum. 
( I2 ) - 
1829. systema mycologicum. v. 3. Gryphiswaldae. 
(13) - 
1857. S VAMP ARNES CALENDARIUM UNDER MEDLERSTA SVERIGES HORISONT. In 
Ofvers. K. Vetensk. Akad. Forhandl., arg. 14, p. 137-155. 
(14) Gillot, X. 
1880. dEcouverte En France du roesleria hypogaea thIjm. ET pass. In 
Rev. Mycol., ann. 2, p. 124-125. 
