ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 75 



Pests of the Flower Garden.*— Under this title, M. C. Cooke 

 publishes the first instalment of a survey of plant diseases. The intro- 

 duction deals with the habits of growth and general appearance of 

 parasitic fungi. He describes the parasites themselves under the natural 

 orders of plants on which they have been found, and the present paper 

 takes us as far as the Rosacese. 



Seed-Fungus of Lolium temulentum.f — E. M. Freeman is of 

 opinion that the poisonous properties of this grass are probably due to the 

 fungus that is found in the seed. It has not been possible to cultivate 

 the hyphas of the fungus apart from the seed, and as the grass does not 

 suffer from the presence of the parasite, there is probably a symbiotic 

 relationship between the two organisms. The fungus has not been 

 identified with any known form ; it persists in an infection layer of hypliEe 

 close to the embryo. From this layer infection of the growing point 

 takes place, and the fungus grows with the host-plant. 



Leptothrix racemosa.f — Josef Arkovy discusses the systematic 

 position and life-phases of this fungus. He finds that it is the parent 

 organism of very different forms. 



Fungous Diseases of White Cedar.§ — John W. Harshberger gives 

 an account of two fungi, Gymnosporangium biseptatum Ellis and G. 

 Ettisii Farlow, both of which attack the young steins and branches of 

 white cedar. The author gives a historical account of the different 

 species of Gymnosporangium. He then describes the appearance of the 

 fungi and the damage they do to the tree. He gives a careful study of 

 the life-habit of the cedar, Cupressus ihyoides, and the formation of 

 the tissues, showing the bearing of these conditions on the attack of the 

 fungus. He describes the pathological changes induced by the pene- 

 tration of the mycelium into the tissues ; comparing the attack with 

 those of the larch and fir diseases due to Dasyscypha Wilkommii and 

 D. resinaria. The, specimens of the fungus were collected in the bog- 

 swamps of New Jersey where the white cedar grows. G. biseptatum 

 causes elongate swellings which may surround the whole stem. G. Ellisii 

 leaves the branch uninjured below the point of attack. Above the 

 injury, the branches are stunted and form a fan-shaped witch's broom. 



Oidium Production and the Culture of the Higher Fungi. || — 

 Richard Falck gives some results of his work on spore cultivation. He 

 began with the spores of CoUybia velutipes which germinate easily and 

 produce a mycelium which breaks up into oidia. He transferred the 

 oidia to bread and in time reproduced the CoUybia form. He followed 

 the same process with equal success- with the spores of Phlebia meris- 

 moides, the oidia in this case being transferred to branches of a cherry- 

 tree. Various other Basidiomycetes were experimented with and culti- 

 vated through the Oidium stage. He notes that in a pure culture of 



* Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc , xxvii. (1902) pp. 1-45 (3 coloured pis. and 2 figs.), 

 t Proc. Roy. Soc. lxxi. (1902) pp. 27-30. 



t (Est.-ung. Vierteljahrsschr. f. Zsihnheilk., xviii. (1902) pp. 8-32 (1 pi.). Cf. 

 Centralbl. Bakt., xxxii. (iy02) p. 78. 



§ Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil. ( 1902) pp. 461-502 (with pis.). 

 || Beitr. z. Biol. d. Pflunz., viii. (1902) pp. 307-46 (6 pis.). 



