532 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



In another paper * the author takes up the question of the gecidium 

 with its accompanying spermogonium : his view is that they represent the 

 original sexual stage and still retain much of its invigorating power. 



Merulius lacrymans.f — Alfred Moller succeeded in making artificial 

 cultures of the spores of dry rot and in growing the fungus to its charac- 

 teristic fruiting form. He gives a full account of the methods he 

 employed. 



Agaricus (Collybia) Henrietta sp. n.f — Worthington G. Smith pub- 

 lishes the diagnosis of this newly discovered fungus with notes. It is 

 intermediate between A. radicatus and A. longipes. It was found in 

 September, on and about stumps, trees, &c. 



Critical Agarics.§ — Julien Godfrin takes three nearly related Agari- 

 cacege, Panceolus campanulatus, P. retirugis, and P. sphinctrinus, and 

 endeavours to supplement the unsatisfactory macroscopic characters by 

 exact histological details. He finds that P. campanulatus and P. sphinc- 

 trinus are closely related, the main distinction being the thickness of the 

 external layer of the pileus. P. retirugis shows a somewhat different 

 structure in the pileus, and should therefore not be closely associated 

 with the other two. A fourth form, P. fimicola, he finds so totally 

 different in structure that he considers it ought to be classed in another 

 genus. Anatomical study has not been carried far enough, however, to 

 attempt a classification on such lines. The paper is illustrated by several 

 figures in the text. 



Species of Discisceda.|| ■ — This genus of Gasteromycetes is synony- 

 mous with Catastoma, but as it has priority in its favour, L. Hollos 

 revives the name and takes occasion to review all the species that rightly 

 belong to the genus. Nearly all of these had been previously classified 

 under Bovista. 



Cauloglossum transversarium.f — John R. Johnston has taken 

 advantage of fresh material of this plant to make a thorough investiga- 

 tion of it. It was found in the Southern States of America, and the 

 mature specimens are club-shaped, stipitate, and olive-brown, from 

 3 to 7 cm. in height. Johnston describes the structure and develop- 

 ment of the fungus, which was first described in 1811 as a Lycoperdon. 

 More recently it was transferred to the genus Cauloglossum, but as 

 this latter is a synonym of Podaxon, the writer thinks it more in order 

 to give a new name, and so he designates the plant as Rhopalogaster 

 transversarium. Its affinities are with the Hysterangiaceas. It has the 

 same type of columella and glebal structures, with a somewhat evanescent 

 peridium that leaves the hymenial region exposed ; the basidia and spores 

 differ from those of the group. 



* Proc. Soc. Prom. Agr. Sci. (U.S.A.), (1902) pp. 65-9. See also Bot. Ccntralbl., 

 xxiv. (1903) pp. 205-6. 



t Hedwigia Beibl., xlii. (1903) pp. 6-14 (1 pi.). 



X Journ. Bot., xli. (1903) p. 139. 



§ Bull. Soc. Mycol. Franco, xix. (1903) pp. 4-1-5. 



|| Hedwigia Beibl., xlii. (1903) pp. 20-1. 



Tf Pioc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci., xxxviii. (1902) pp. 61-74 (1 pi.). 



