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That is, inside the ascus, a diploid fungal nucleus undergoes meiosis — or sexual, reductive cell division — to produce ascospores.

Then by a special method, described first by Harper, a mass of protoplasm is cut out round each nucleus; thus eight uninucleate ascospores are formed by free-cell formation.

The spores of Ferns, ascospores, and some conidia are also liberated explosively.

These latter are thus seen to be carpospores, comparable to those of Red Alg�, and to the ascospores of Ascomycetes.

Typically, an ascus is a cylindrical or club-shaped structure containing at maturity eight ascospores, which are usually liberated explosively and thereafter dispersed by the wind.