220 SUMMAEY OF CURRENT EESEARCHES RELATING TO 



spp. and Melampsora sp. on trees. M. elatina causes witches'-broom 

 and a dwarfing of tips and branches of Picea excelsa. 



New or Rare Fungi. — E. Boudier* has described a number of new 

 species under the title " Dernieres etincelles mycologiques." He is on 

 the eve of his ninetieth year, and explains that the species now described 

 have accumulated during his work on the " Icones." The list includes 

 Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes, all of them illustrated in colour. 



F. and Madame Moreauf describe a Pyrenomycete, Epicymatia 

 aphfhosse sp. n., which was growing as a parasite on the lichen Peliidea 

 aphthosa. It occurs in the region of the cephalodia. 



A new species, Melanospora Mangini, has been described and figured 

 by F. Vincens,+ obtained in a gelatine culture of " blue wood." i 



A new Discomycete, Tricophsea Boudieri has been described by 

 L.-J. Grelet.§ It grew on shaded marshy soil. 



N. Patouillard has described a series of fungi from Tonkin, a number 

 of them new to science. 



Fungi from Southern China. || — H. S. Yates publishes the fungi of 

 a small collection made by E. D. Merrill. Most of them were forms 

 already known, and of wide distribution. Only microfungi had 

 evidently been collected. There is a new species of Trabutea (Phylla- 

 choraceEe), and a new Uredine, Uredo cantonensis. Cercospora personata, 

 recognized as a serious disease of pea-nut in the West Indies, was also 

 collected. 



Two Remarkable Discomycetes.lf — E. T. Harper describes fully two 

 large Ascomycetes from Michigan and Illinois. These are Undenvoodia 

 columnaris, a new member of the Helvellaceae, the ascophores of which 

 are columnar, and the hymenium covers the exterior. The second,- 

 Pustularia gigantm, was previously described, but is now published with 

 more details and with photographs. 



Fungus Fairy Rings.** — A study of these rings in Eastern Colorado, 

 especially those caused by Agaricus tabidaris, and their effects on 

 vegetation, has been made by H. L. Shantz and R. L. Piemeisel. They 

 give a long list of fungi which have been observed to form the rings, due 

 to the centrifugal growth of the mycelium from the point of departure. 

 The effect of the fungus filaments on the soil is to reduce a part of the 

 organic matter to ammonia, which forms ammoniacal salts, or becomes 

 converted by bacteria from nitrites to nitrates. The increase in nitro- 

 gen stimulates the growth of grasses, etc., making larger demands on the 

 soil-moisture. When this is exhausted by A. iabidnris, the felt of 

 hyphffi prevents the penetration of rain-water, and the surface -plants 

 die of drouth. The area is thus left bare, but in a few years the 



* Bull. Soc. Mycol. France, xxxiii. (1918) pp. 7-22 (6 pis.). • 

 t Bull. Soc. Mycol. Prance, xxxiii. (1918) pp. 23-7 (2 figs.). 

 X Bull. Soc. Mycol. France, xxxiii. (1918) pp. 67-9 (1 fig.). 

 § Bull. Soc. Mycol. France, xxxiii. (1918) pp. 94-6 (1 pi.). 

 II Phil. Journ. Sci., xii. (1917) pp. 313-16. 

 % Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xlv. (1918) pp. 77-86 (3 pis.). 

 ** Journ. Agric. Research, xi. (1917) pp. 191-245 (31 pis.). 



