286 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



usual time, though only when the water was constantly changed. 

 Klebahn suggests that the air-content of the water might be important. 

 Simple moistening of the spores had little effect. He also thinks that 

 the gradual destruction of the tissues on which the spores are parasitic 

 may be important. Cold is not necessary and may even hinder germin- 

 ation. Klebahn records experiments on the germination of uredospores 

 and on the life-history of various forms. He also cites instances of 

 rust-development that render impossible Eriksson's mycoplasm theory. 



Experiments with Puccinia malvacearum.* — J. Eriksson and 

 C. Hammerland record the results of their effort to secure the immuni- 

 zation of hollyhocks against the attacks of this fungus. The disease 

 may be carried long distances by infected plants or seeds, the fungus 

 hibernating in the cells of the host in a condition of mycoplasma. The 

 mycoplasmic condition becomes mycelial shortly before the erruption of 

 pustules on the leaf. By various experiments with fungicides, they 

 found that the attacks of the disease could be arrested, or very consider- 

 ably modified, by the introduction of a fungicide solution into the roots 

 of the plant. The experiments are to be continued. 



Uredinese.f — E. J. Butler describes some of the more frequent rusts in 

 India. The common fig-rust, Uredo Fici, he has placed in the genus 

 Kmhneola. It is usually found in the uredo stage only, with sori in 

 great numbers on the under side of the leaf ; a ring of paraphyses develops 

 round the sorus. The teleuto-stage has hitherto been found only on 

 Ficus glomerata. Butler also describes Coleosporium Oldenlandix 

 previously recorded as a Uredo. Vertical septation of the teleutospore 

 frequently occurs, and they emerge through the stomata of the leaf. 



P. DietelJ describes a number of new species from Central and South 

 America, and from Japan. He also gives a critical account of the rusts 

 that are found on different species of Baccharis. In a few of the species 

 there is a well developed peridium ; in most of them it is absent. 



Culture of Tricholoma nudum.§ — Louis Matruchot has been studying 

 for many years the influence of environment on the growth and characters 

 of this fungus. He finds that when it is cultivated in a dark cellar at 

 11° C. in a normally hygro metric atmosphere, it grows as vigorously as 

 in the open, retains the power of spore-formation, and, though an 

 autumnal species, will fructify in these conditions at any season. In 

 the end it loses the violet pigment — a specific character— and the sinus 

 of the gills — a generic character. Basidia and spores remain normal, 

 and the delicate taste and smell of the fungus are unaffected, showing 

 that the chemistry of the cells is unmodified. 



Parasitism of Polyporus frondosus and Sparassis ramosa.|| 

 These two fungi have been examined by H. Kirchmayr in the field. 



* Comptes Rendus, clviii. (1914) pp. 420-3. 



t Ann. Mycol., xii. (1914) pp. 76-82 (4 figs.). 



j Ann. Mycol., xii. (1914) pp. 83-8. 



§ Comptes Rendus, clviii. (1914) pp. 724-6. 



U Hedwigia, liv. (1914) pp. 328-37 (2 figs.). 





