22 
From its mode of development, and from the fact that on 
germinating these smaller spore-balls, the results were identi. 
cally the same as on germinating the larger ones, it was obvious 
that they were one and the same form, yet the morphological 
differences seemed great enough to almost warrant the supposi- 
tion that they belonged to different genera of fungi. In the one 
case a single envelope layer enclosed from one to eight spores, 
in the other a many-layered envelope enclosed twenty or more. 
On casting round for an explanation of this fact, it was found 
that the differences were probably due solely to the amount of 
moisture present while the helices were developing. | Where 
there was an excess of moisture, as in the case of those growing 
in the wet cotton-wool plugs, the large form was produced, 
while on the drier gelatine and agar-agar plates the smaller form 
only occurred. Further, by keeping the plate cultures very 
moist the short branches were induced to grow out into the long 
interweaving ones, and so to give rise to a many- layered 
envelope. Spore-balls, when half-developed, were transferred 
from these moist agar-chestnut cultures to other media, but 
beyond the investing hyphae growing further to form fresh 
helices and spore-balls, nothing of interest was met with. 
Here again, then, we have a case where simply changing one 
factor, namely, the rate of transpiration, produces differences in 
the spore form, great enough to lead one to suppose that one 
was dealing with two different species at least. 
Since making these cultures I have found the small spore- 
balls in diseased chestnuts, though never associated with 
Berkeley's form. It must, therefore, be assumed that they are 
the normal form. 
Besides producing the abnormal mycelium in_ beer-wort 
gelatine, the aerial hypha grew out into curious arches or 
spirals, which became shortly septate. Each segment then 
swelled out strongly, more particularly those towards the centre 
of the arch, and the walls became carbonized, so giving rise to 
structures very similar to the ascogonia (scolecites) described by 
Tulasne and Janczewski in the early stages of Ascobolus (Fig. 5). 
in spite of the carbonized walls these rows of cells were not 
spores, for no signs of germination could be obtained with them 
under any conditions, and certain facts seem to point to their 
further development along the lines of an Ascomycete. _ It is thus 
peculiarly interesting to note that one can determine solely by 
varying the food supply whether a helix producing chlamydos- 
pores, or this provisional scolecite, shall be raised. Moreover, if 
the young scolecite was transferred to agar-chestnut plates the 
fungus made the attempt to produce a spore-ball out of it by 
investing it with envelope branches. The attempt generally 
ended in failure, for single cells of the scolecite were often too 
big (70-80) to be readily invested. 
