224 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



E. cle Kruyff explains this by stating that the people of Java seldom 

 allow the fruits to ripen on the trees for fear of thieves. He has 

 isolated seven species of Saccharomyces and one of Zyyosaccharomyces 

 {Z. javanicus sp. n.). All of them ferment glucose, most of them also 

 saccharose and maltose, none of them affect lactose. Saccharomyces 

 apiculatus, so common in Europe, was not found ; Torula yeasts were 

 rare, but a red Torula was frequently met with. Three samples of soil 

 from Krakatoa gave no yeasts. 



Rust-eating Larvee.* — Laubert took note of the constant presence 

 of small red larvae on rusted plants, and found that they fed on the 

 fungus spores. These larvae form their chrysalids on the leaves and 

 cover them with a flat white web. After a short time a dipterous insect 

 is produced. Laubert considers of i^reat economic importance the 

 presence of this constant enemy of the rust plant. 



British Basidiomycetes.f — A handbook of British basidiomycetous 

 fungi by Worthington G. Smith has recently been issued by the Trustees 

 of the British Museum. The descriptions were drawn by Smith when 

 preparing the fine series of water-colour drawings exhibited in the 

 Botanical Department. In the introduction the author gives a general 

 sketch of the development and life-history of the group, with notes on 

 habitat and locality. The system and sequence adopted by Fries has 

 been mainly followed in the arrangement of natural orders, genera, etc. 

 The descriptions of each species contain the salient distinctive characters 

 which must be used along with the generic and sectional characters 

 given as keys at the head of each genus. All repetition is avoided, and 

 the book is thus kept within a comparatively small compass, though the 

 species described amount to well over 2000. The Agaricaceaa is the 

 largest natural order, containing about 1450 British species. The Poly- 

 poracere, Hydnaceaa, etc., and the Gasteromycetes are also fully dealt with. 

 There is also a useful glossary of technical terms, and a full index. The 

 different groups as well as the separate genera are illustrated by line 

 engravings also by W. G. Smith, and a colour key to the Agaricacete 

 is added. 



Edible and Poisonous Fungi. $ — J- Poll publishes descriptions and 

 plates of fungi used for food in Germany. The plates have been pre- 

 pared from drawings by Fran Schultze, and are reproduced in natural 

 size. Information to assist the collector is provided, with locality, 

 season of growth, etc. An account is also given of the methods of 

 collecting and preparing the fungi ; and information as to mushroom 

 culture is added. 



G. F. Atkinson § describes and figures an Agaric, Tricholoma ve- 

 nustum sp. n. which had been eaten by a number of people and had 

 caused considerable trouble, though none of the cases proved fatal. 

 Odour and taste were mild. 



* Deutsche Landw. Presse, 1907. p. 618. See also Centralbl. Bakt., xxii. (1908) 

 p. 181. t Brit. Mus, (Nat. Hist.) (1908) 531 pp. (145 figs, and 5 pis.). 



\ Tubingen: H. Laupp, 1908 (14 pis., 3-col. process). See also Bot. Centralbl., 

 cviii. (1908) p. 659. § Bot. Gaz., xlvi. (1908) pp. 461-3 (2 figs.). 



