f>18 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Infection experiments on living insects were unsuccessful, but a 

 vigorous growth was obtained on a dead cockroach. Various cytological 

 observations were made by the author. He demonstrated the presence 

 of metachromatic corpuscles, and the presence of numerous nuclei in the 

 spores, etc. He considers the fungus to be near Basidiobolus and 

 Conidiobolus, but generically distinct from both. 



Mucor Species and Alcohol.* — C. Wehmer has been considering 

 the problem of the behaviour of species of Mucor and other fungi of the 

 Aspergillus and Penicillium genera in regard to alcohol produced by 

 themselves in fermentation, or when it was introduced into the cultures. 

 He found with Mucor racemosus and M.javanicus that the alcohol con- 

 tent of the culture became gradually less. He is, however, of opinion 

 that evaporation accounts largely for the disappearance of the alcohol, 

 and that the breaking up of the alcohol by the fungus is very slight. 



Rhizopus oligosporus.f — K. Saito adds from China another to the 

 large number of economic fungi that have been recorded in Eastern 

 lands. It was found on a cake of rice meal, and was so named owing to 

 the sparing formation of spores. The sporangia, at first colourless, 

 became black and wasted ; the spores are greyish-brown. The fungus 

 grows vigorously, and converts starch into sugar with formation of 

 alcohol. 



A New Species of Wynnea.f — Roland Thaxter has found a third 

 species of this genus in North Carolina. It grew, like the other species, 

 from a sclerotium buried in the soil. The ascophores are borne in 

 clusters that branch from a common stalk. They are elongate, ear- 

 shaped, and very variable in size. Thaxter gives an historical account of 

 the three species constituting the genus, collected respectively in India, 

 Mexico and North Carolina. The new species is characterised by its 

 rich dark-brown colour, and by the large spores. 



Observations on Peziza ammophila.§ — G. Muscatello has been 

 examining this fungus which grows on the maritime dunes of Catania in 

 Sicily. He does not think it lives in symbiosis with the roots of the 

 grasses. The stalk owes its peculiar formation to the necessity of con- 

 ducting and accumulating water. The asci originate from the fusion of 

 two equal gametes. The metachromatic granules aid in spore formation 

 and in the development of the exospore. 



Sclerotinise of Fruit Trees.|| — R. Aderhold and W. Ruhland have 

 cultivated several forms of Sclerotinia on apples, apricots, and cherries, 

 and they have determined three distinct species which are marked by 

 slight but constant differences in the size of asci and spores, and in the 



* Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Ges., xxiii. (1905) pp. 216-17. 



t Centralbl. Bakt., xiv. (1905) pp. 623-7 (1 pi.). 



\ Bot. Gazette, xxxix. (1905) pp. 241-7 (2 pis.). 



§ Atti Aocad. Gioenia Sci. Nat. Catania, Feb. 1905, pp. 1-15 (1 pi.). See also 

 Bot. Centralbl., xcix. (1905) pp. 66-7. 



|| Arb. biol. Abt. Land, und Forstw. Kais. Ges., iv. 5 (1905) pp. 427-42. See also 

 Hedwigia, xliv. (1905) pp. 144-5. 



