ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 533 



British Mycology.*— The annual meeting and foray of fungo- 

 logists took place last autumn at Hereford, and a list is given of the 

 specimens collected, with special notes on new or rare species. 



M. C. Cooke supplies a descriptive list of recent British Fungi. 

 E. H. Biffen gives an account of the life-history of Acrospeira mirabilis, 

 a mould that grows on sweet chestnuts. By means of artificial cultures 

 the writer was able to trace the fungus through various stages up to the 

 final fruiting form, a species of Sphceria. 



C. B. Plowright arranges the British Puccinias found on Umbelliferaa 

 according to Lindroth's recent classification. A. Lorrain Smith and 

 Carleton Rea give an account of all the fungi new to Britain found 

 within the past year — a long and varied list. M. C. Cooke writes on 

 agaric transformations, and A. Lorrain Smith contributes a note on 

 Stilb urn tomentosum. 



Presence of a Kinase in Basidiomycetes.f — C.Delezenne and 

 H. Mouton, in confirmation of results of previous workers, find that 

 extracts obtained by various means from Basidiomycetous fungi are 

 always inactive towards fibrin and coagulated egg-albumin. They find, 

 however, that several of these extracts when added to pancreatic juices 

 which are quite inactive towards albumin, will give a very evident 

 digestive power. This action is due to a soluble ferment analogous to 

 enterokinase, but which it is of greater interest to connect with the 

 kinases discovered by Delezenne in different bacteria and in serpent 

 venom. A very active kinase has been found in the two slightly 

 poisonous Agarics, Amanita muscaria and A. citrina. Only a feeble 

 extract was obtained from the common mushroom and from Boletus eclulis. 

 The results suggest a relation between toxic action and the presence of 

 a kinase. 



Mycorhiza.J — P. E. Muller records the observation that Epicea does 

 not flourish unless it is grown side by side with Pinus montana. On 

 the roots of the latter he finds, in addition to the usual form of 

 ectotropic mycorhiza, a dichotomous branching and outgrowth of the 

 lateral rootlets forming excrescences on the roots. He considers these 

 growths comparable in function with the nodules of the Legurninosas, 

 and he is of opinion that they supply nitrogen to the plant and enrich 

 the soil. There are five figures in the text illustrating the different forms 

 of Mycorhiza. 



F. Cavers § has reviewed the literature dealing with mycorhiza in 

 Hepaticas. He records many additional observations made by himself on 

 plants he has examined. He concludes that in some of the cases where 

 hypha? are found the fungus may be a narasite on the host-plant. In 

 other cases there is undoubtedly symbiotic relationship between the two 

 organisms. 



Biological Method for Resolving Inactive Acids into their 

 Optically Active Components. || — A.McKenzie and A. Harden have 



* Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc., 1902, 40 pp. (2 pis., 1 coloured). 



t Coruptes Rendus, cxxxvi. (1903) pp. 167-9. 



X Overs. K. Dansk. Videns. Selsk., 1902, No. 6, pp. 249-56. 



§ New Phytol., ii. (1903) pp. 30-5. 



|| Proc. Chem. Soc, xix. (1903) pp. 4S-9. 



