286 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



delphia, the discrepancy is reconciled by stating that the pe- 

 culiarity is only appreciable in the young plants and when 

 they first come up, since, after becoming large and heavy, 

 they are moved out of place by the wind and rain, and un- 

 able to regain their original position. 2 D, October, 1870, 

 117. 



ORANGE FUNGUS OP BREAD. 



At a meeting of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, speci- 

 mens of bread, baked for the use of the army, were exhibited, 

 which had been rendered entirely unfit for food by the devel- 

 opment of a yellowish-white substance, changing gradually 

 to an orange-red color, and emitting a nauseous odor. Con- 

 siderable agglomerations of this substance were formed, so as 

 to fill all the cavities of the loaf. When examined by the 

 microscope, this appearance was found to be due to the pres- 

 ence of a cryptogamic plant, already described as Oidium 

 aurantiacwn, and which was observed in the bread in Paris 

 in the summer of 1843, and at a later period at Marseilles 

 and in Algeria. The sporules of the Oidium were found to 

 adhere to the husk of the wheat, and were probably abundant 

 in proportion as this was in a humid state, badly cleansed, 

 and had undergone alteration from the larva? of the weevil, 

 as it never occurs in bread of the best quality, carefully pre- 

 pared. 20 A, Sept 2, 288. 



NATURE OF COAL. 



Some time ago Professor Huxley announced his impression 

 that the spore-cases and the spores of coal plants, rather than 

 the material of the stem, had been largely or mainly instru- 

 mental in the production of coal. Dr. Dawson, of Montreal, 

 in -a recent paper in the American Journal of Science, takes 

 occasion J;o present the result of a careful inquiry into this 

 subject, in which he comes to the conclusion that these spo- 

 rangic bodies are exceptional among coals, and that the cor- 

 tical and woody matters are the most abundant ingredients 

 in all the ordinary kinds. 4 D, 1811, April, 260. 



HUGE FOSSIL ALG^E. 



It is stated that certain specimens of supposed fossil wood, 

 considered by Professor Dawson, of Montreal, as the oldest 



