618 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Fossil Fungi.* — P. H. Fritel and R. Viguier, in the course of 

 their study of fossil Equisetacese, discovered the mycelium of a hypho- 

 mycetous fungus in the rhizome of Equisetum noviodunense. There 

 were spores attached to the filaments, which enabled them to identify 

 and name it as Clasterosporium eocenicum. The authors could not 

 determine if the fungus were parasitic or merely saprophytic in a 

 decaying plant. Another fungus associated with the same mycelium, 

 though evidently distinct and quite different, was also noted : it 

 formed spherical bodies, inclosing spores which might represent a 

 sporangium. 



J. Schuster f publishes palaeobotanical notes from Bavaria, and gives 

 his observations on fungal products that he observed in the fossil woods. 

 In Pinus excdsa and P. silvestris he found a well-developed RoselUnia 

 or Rosellinites, with perithecia and spores. 



Chitin in Boletus edulis. J — By the use of reagents, potash, acids, etc., 

 E. Scholl has succeeded in demonstrating the presence of chitin in 

 fungi resembling chemically the chitin of animals. The author describes 

 the various processes by which he tested the existence and the quality of 

 this substance, and he considers that De Bary's term fungus-cellulose 

 should be dropped in favour of the word fungin, as understood by 

 Breconnot. Scholl intends to carry further the research so successfully 

 begun. 



Cellular Membranes of Fungi.§ — C. Ilikevic differs from other 

 workers as to the constitution of hyphal membranes. He finds that the 

 cell-walls are not formed of chitin, as has been generally held, but of 

 a nitrogenous substance akin both to cellulose and to chitin, which he 

 names " mycosin." The substances composing the cell-wall belong to a 

 special group, which he classes as mycetin, and thus avoids the em- 

 ployment of terms such as fungus-cellulose, etc., which are misleading. 



Fungus-spores present in the Air. || — 0. Rostrup has investigated 

 this subject recently by exposing sterilised gelatin for a given time 

 (15 minutes) to the air. In this manner seventy-eight tests have been 

 made during the course of three years. Rostrup found that the largest 

 number of spores were those of Hyphomycetes ; the next most numerous 

 were the Mucoraceaj. More infectious took place in the open than 

 within doors, possibly due to the greater agitation of air. PenicilUum 

 glaucum, however, was in greater abundance in rooms. A new species, 

 Citromyces tubifer, was isolated, and is described. 



Filling Tree-cavities. f — J. J. Levison recommends very strongly 

 that tree-wounds should be carefully plugged and closed over after cut- 

 ting away all the diseased portions, and painting the uncovered wood 

 with white paint. It is advisable to mix some charcoal with the filling 

 used, as it acts as an antidote to fungi. 



* Rev. Gen. Bot., xxi. (1909) pp. 143-6 (3 figs.). 



t Ber. Bayer. Bot. Ges., xii. (1909) 2 pis. See also Aim. Mycol., vii. (1909) pp. 

 309-10. % SB. Akad. Wiss. Matb.-Nat. Kl., cxvii. (1908) pp. 547-60. 



§ Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersbourg, vi. ser. 2 (1908) pp. 571-88. (Russian.) 

 See also Bot. Centralbl., cxi. (1909) p. 103. 



|| Dansk. Bot. Tidsskr., xxix. (1908) pp. 32-41. See also Bot. Centralbl., cxi. 

 (1909) p. 104. 1 Mycologia, i. (1909) pp. 77-9. 



