ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 85 



myces, Tylopilus, Cricunopus and Boletus. The latter genus he divides 

 according to the colour and form of stalk, pores and pore openings. 

 Kauffman has found thirty-four species of Boletus and a number of 



varieties in West Prussia. 



Mushrooms propagated from Spores.*-- An edible mushroom, 

 Agaricus (Psalliota) elvensis, was collected by M. C. Cooke and H. T. 

 Wharton in 1881, and broken parts of the plants were thrown out by 

 them into their respective gardens. Cooke writes an account of the 

 growth of this fungus a few years later on the place where he had thrown 

 the specimens, under the drip of a pear tree, and states that they grow 

 there year after year. Wharton has recently submitted specimens to 

 him grown in his garden under the same conditions. Cooke considers 

 that in both cases these mushrooms have been developed from fragments, 

 if not from spores. A. elvensis is a large and finely flavoured species, 

 and worthy of the attention of the mushroom cultivator. 



Researches in Mycology. t — 0. Brefeld has issued a volume dealing 

 with the culture of fungi and with results obtained by him. He describes 

 the different methods of culture he has found useful for different types 

 of fungi, and then he restates his views as to the evolution and relation- 

 ships of the different groups. He derives the ascus from the sporangium, 

 the basidium from the conidial form ; he does not admit the existence 

 of sexuality in the higher fungi, and states that Stahl's work on Collema 

 remains unconfirmed. 



Atlas of Edible and Poisonous Fungi. J — -A small Italian guide to 

 fungi has been published by Giovanni Negri. It contains sixty-three 

 coloured plates, representing all the common edible or poisonous forms, 

 and is intended to educate the general public in the selection or rejection 

 of fungi for food. In the preface he tells of the large numbers of people 

 that are poisoned every year by eating the wrong kinds ; he insists that 

 exact knowledge is necessary. 0. Mattirolo has written a preface ex- 

 plaining the aims of the book. 



Classification of the BasidiomycetesJ — Much work has been done 

 ou this subject in recent years, and Leon Dufour has published a sketch 

 of the varying methods of classification of this group of plants adopted 

 by different authors, Fries, Brefeld, Juel, and Patouillard. The two 

 great groups of Protobasidiomycetes and Autobasidiomycetes recognised 

 by Brefeld form the basis of the modern ideas on the subject, though 

 further cytological work opens up new views of the relationships of the 

 many different forms. Dufour considers that systematists understand 

 now more fully the characters that are of importance, and they recognise 

 the lines on which any future scheme must be arranged. 



Mycological Notes: N03. 30 and 31.|| — The first of these by 

 C. G. Lloyd, deals with certain genera and species of Phalloids, and 



* Journ. Hort. Soc, xxxiv. (1908) pp. 218-21(1 fig.). 



1 Untersuch. aus dem Gesanit. der Mykologie, xiv. Minister (Westf.), 1908 

 256 pp. See also Bot. Centralbl., cviii. (1908) pp. 416-18. 



t Torino: Corso Raffaello, 1908, xxxv. and 106 pp. (63 col. pis.). 



§ Rev. Gen. Bot., xx. (1908) pp. 417-28. 



Ii Cincinnati 0., Feb. and Aug., 1908, pp. 331-411 (33 pis.). 



