Algae. — Eumycetes. 44/ 



Flagellatta and Peridinieae of the English Lake-district and then the 

 authors sum up the peculiarities of the English Lake-plankton. They 

 State that it contains a varied assortment of algae, of which 64 per 

 cent belong to the Chlorophyceae, 21 per cent to the Bacillarieae , 

 and only 9,5 per cent to the Myxophyceae. The total is 188 species and 

 20 varieties. Of 120 species of Chlorophyceae, 96 are Desmids, so 

 that 51 per cent of all the species recorded for the plankton belong 

 to the Desmidiaceae. Notwithstanding the fact that the English Lakes 

 contain so high a percentage of species, they are not so rieh in 

 actual numbers of Desmids as the Scottish or Welsh lakes. A list 

 is given of the most frequent species, and several which were for- 

 merly regarded as being the rarest of British Desmids are shown 

 to oeeur very plentifully in lake-plankton. Spondylosium pulchrum 

 var: planum is found generally abundant, and this is also the case 

 in Scotland and Ireland. The abundance of Desmids in the 

 British lakes as compared with those of Continental Europe is 

 set forth in a table of precentages. In the English lakes there are 

 relatively few Protococcoideae, but the Diatoms are very conspieuous, 

 and although they are represented by only one third as many spe- 

 cies as the Chlorophyceae, they are offen the dominating constituents. 

 The Myxophyceae are almost as poorly represented as in the Scot- 

 tish lakes, the number of species being relatively few. Among the 

 Flagellates the genus Dinobryon is conspieuous; and among the 

 Peridinieae, Peridinium Willei, which is one of the leading features 

 of the plankton of the English lake district. Lists are given of those 

 species which are exclusively confined to the plankton, and ofthose 

 which are much more abundant in the plankton than elsewhere. 

 The authors noticed that a greater bulk of plankton oecurred in 

 those lakes which are slightly contaminated by the presence on 

 their shores of small villages and forms, than in those lakes free 

 from contamination. They have no evidence in Support of the view 

 put forward by Huitfeldt-Kaas, that small depth is favourable 

 and great depth unfavourable to the development of plankton. On the 

 contrary, their experience would point to the conclusion, that great 

 depth is not inimical to the development of phyto- or Zooplankton. 

 The series is illustrated by three plates and some textfigures. 



E. S Gepp. 



Clerc e t Sartory. Etüde biologique d'une Levure isolee 

 au cours d'une angine chronique. (C. R. Soc. Biol. 25 janv. 

 1908. LXIV. p. 135—137.) 



II s'agit d'une espece de Cryptococcus non encore decrite en 

 pathologie humaine. Elle a ete isolee de concretions contenant 

 d'autre part du Pneumobacille de Friedländer. Les globules sont 

 ovales, de 7 -10X5,", bourgeonnant ä un pole. La temperature Op- 

 timum est 30°. Les eultures sont blanches et d'abord lisses. Sur 

 carotte elles prennent, en vieillissant, un aspect granuleux et une 

 teinte rosee. L'inoculation sous la peau du Cobaye provoque l'appa- 

 rition d'abces et de nodosites fugaces. P. Vuillemin. 



Massee, G., Additions to the wild Fauna and Flora of 

 the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. X. Fungi. 3 d series. 

 (Kew Bull. 1909. N°. 9. p. 373—376.) 



Amongst the list of fungi added to the flora of Kew Gardens 

 is a new species of Marasmius named M. Raffillii, Massee. The 



