332 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



ductive hypkas, the latter being localised under the epidermis. The 

 writer discusses fully the question of relationship between the Protomy- 

 cetes and the Ascomycetes. They are both derived from the same 

 ancestral form which probably possessed sexual organs and also non- 

 sexual or conidial forms, and it is from the conidial forms that the 

 Protomycetes have originated. 



Protascus, a New Genus.*— P. A. Dangeard gives a note on this 

 fungus which is a parasite on Eel-worms and has hitherto been over- 

 looked owing to its resemblance to Myzocytium. When fully developed 

 it has the form of a flask inserted in the body of the worm, the pro- 

 jecting neck bends over and pierces the skin of the worm. Special 

 attention is drawn to the method of sporulation : the sporangium 

 produces non-motile spores corresponding to the number of nuclei formed, 

 8, 1C, or 32. They are club-shaped and are ejected with considerable 

 force. The writer follows the opinion of Brefeld that the ascus is 

 derived from the non-sexual sporangium, and he considers that the life- 

 history of this fungus supports that view. It forms a transition 

 between the Phycomycetes and the Ascomycetes. 



Endogone.t — P. Baccarini discusses in a lengthy note some of the 

 characters of this genus. He reviews the opinions of previous workers 

 as to its systematic position, and describes particularly these species E. 

 macrocarpa, E. Pampaloniana sp. n., and E. lactiflua. He pays special 

 attention to the formation of the so-called asci which arise at the end 

 of the hyphal branches. The author makes a note on a fossil form of 

 fungus that he found in the " Disodile " and which he described as 

 Pythites Disoclilis Pamp. He is now of opinion that it was Endogone 

 macrocarpa, thus proving the antiquity of the genus. He thinks also 

 that probably the Endogoneae are an offshoot of a group of Oophyco- 

 inycetes not unlike the existing Pythium. 



Sclerospora. :j: — G. B. Traverso publishes a note on a new variety, 

 SclerospoYa graminicola var. Setarm- Italics which he found attacking 

 Setaria italica ; the development of the grass was arrested and the leaves 

 were brown or withered. Microscopic examination showed a large 

 number of oospores with a reddish-brown epispore. Conidiophores have 

 not been found either by Traverso or by MacBride and Hitchcock, who 

 record a Sclerospora on species of Setaria in America. The writer gives a 

 diagnosis of the new variety. 



\Some additional notes § on Sclerospora graminicola are furnished by 

 E. L. Stevens. He notes new hosts and new localities for the parasite. 



Sclerospora macrospora\\ has hitherto been found only on Alope- 

 curus. G. Cugini and G. B. Traverso record its appearance as a parasite 

 on Zea Mays. Its presence in the hosts is shown by the appearance of 

 small transparent spots on the leaves. The disease is as yet unimportant, 

 only few plants having been attacked. 



* Comptea Kendus, exxxvi. (1903) pp. 627-8. 



t Nuovo Giora. Bot. Ital., x. (1903) pp. 79-92. 



t Bull. Soc. Bot. Ital., ix. (1902) pp. 168-75. 



§ Journ. of Myc, lxv. (1903) p. 13. 



|| Stazioni Agrarie Sperimentali, xxxv. (1902) pp. 46-9. 



