^^S^'xfjST'}  Growth  and  Development  of  Ciaviceps purpurea.  563 
'hoi  and  a  little  ether,  minute  octahedra  of  mycose  are  formed,  and  may 
be  seen  with  the  lens. 
On  July  1 8th,  I  first  gathered  fully-formed  and  mature  ergots,  which 
I  now  produce.  They  have  a  dark  exterior  with  a  white  interior,  and 
give  the  ordinary  red  infusion. 
On  August  1st,  one  of  the  lambs  was  taken  ill  with  the  usual  inflam- 
matory symptoms.  The  feet  also  in  a  few  days  had  a  gangrenous 
appearance,  which  did  not  seem  to  be  alleviated  by  any  of  the  usual 
applications  of  silver  nitrate,  carbolic  or  cresylic  acids.  The  affection 
of  the  feet  strongly  reminded  me  of  " clavellization,"  so  destructive 
among  the  flocks  of  Italy,  France  and  Moravia,  and  has  frequently 
'been  supposed  to  have  been  a  variety  of  variola. 
The  fungus  has  now  reached  the  limit  of  its  vegetative  or  myceloid 
growth,  which  plainly  ends  at  the  sclerotium  stage  as  our  medicinal 
agent  called  ergot,  by  means  of  which  the  embryo  and  most  of  the 
caryopsides  have  been  destroyed, 
The  hyphae  are  now  ready  to  spread  in  every  direction  and  thus 
extend  the  vegetative  growth,  from  which  only  we  derive  the  peculiar 
•medical  properties  of  the  Ciaviceps  in  their  greatest  intensity  and 
power  on  the  animal  economy,  and  it  is  now  that  the  greatest  effects 
are  produced  which  are  included  under  the  name  of  u  ergotism." 
A  post  mortem  examination  of  the  sheep  showed  the  presence  of  the 
conidia  among  the  "  coffee  ground  "  looking  faeces.  The  fungus 
having  now  arrived  at  this  stage  awaits  for  appropriate  weather  and 
other  suitable  conditions  for  the  fructifying  metamorphosis. 
At  the  end  of  August  one  or  two  of  the  ergots  that  had  fallen  with 
the  stems  of  the  grass  on  the  damp  ground  I  placed,  for  more  conven- 
ient observations,  on  the  moist  soil  of  a  flower  pot.  In  a  few  days  I 
noticed  on  the  dark  cuticle  of  the  sclerotium  several  minute  excres- 
cences from  which  gradually  emanated  some  stalks  about  11  to  18  milli- 
meters in  length,  each  supporting  a  minute  round  head  about  4  milli- 
meters in  diameter,  in  fact  furnishing  good  characteristic  specimens  of 
Ciaviceps  purpurea. 
It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  these  fungi  should  have  received  the 
names  of  sphoeria  or  torrubia,  because  they  so  much  resemble  the 
growth  so  often  described  as  being  found  on  the  heads  of  caterpillars 
or  larvae,  and  used  as  a  medicine  in  China  and  Japan. 
A  very  remarkable  change  now  took  place  in  the  oil  that  was  so 
