ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. o79 



regard to the side of the leaf on which they are habitually to be found. 

 As that depends largely on the position of the stomata, their occurrence 

 either above or below cannot be utilized as a systematic character. The 

 uredosorus in every ease examined by the writer was located below the 

 stomata, and by closing these the formation of the sorus could be more 

 or less prevented. If leaves that had stomata only on the under sur- 

 face were turned round, sori were still formed on the morphologically 

 lower side. On Geranium pyrenaicum, which has stomata on both sur- 

 faces, Uromyces kabatianus forms uredosori only on the under surface, but 

 if these leaves are turned round, sori are produced both above and below. 

 The case is somewhat different with teleutosori. Though in many in- 

 stances these are located beneath the stomata, in others they have no 

 connexion with them : thus in Puccinia Rlbis the teleutospores emerge 

 on the upper side, though stomata are found only on the lower. 



Uredineae.* — J. Ramsbottom criticizes the nomenclature of Uredinea; 

 as dealt with in recently published lists and books. A number of 

 species have there appeared under two names ; these he has corrected 

 and has given the original name and synonymy with the references to 

 the literature where they were first recorded, with notes descriptive of 

 many of the species dealt with. Special attention is given to the genus 

 Phragmidium, as there is much confusion in the determination and early 

 descriptions of the different species. 



Culture Experiments with Merulius Spores.f — C. AVehmer has 

 already told of his failure to induce the germination of the spores of the 

 dry-rot fungus. He has made another attempt with spores taken from 

 a specimen growing in artificial conditions. He gives in detail the 

 methods he followed and the contents of the media employed. The 

 spores were entirely normal in appearance, but they were found to be. 

 incapable of germination, and the results (as before) were negative. Cul- 

 tures were made not only in tubes but in hanging drops. After three 

 weeks there was not the slightest sign of development. 



Imperfectly-developed Spores in the Agaricacese.J— A. D. Cotton 

 has given special attention to spore-production in the higher Fungi. In 

 all groups the size and shape of the spore is an important item in the 

 diagnosis of the species except in the Hymenomycetes. In many of the 

 genera the field-characters are sufficient to delimit the species without 

 relying on spore-characters ; in many the spores show little variation : they 

 are, however, a useful supplementary means of determining species. 

 Cotton gives an account of an examination he made of the spores shed 

 on successive days from the gills of Stropheria semi-globata. Spore casts 

 were taken from the same pileus ou three successive days, and the last 

 shed spores were not only paler in colour, but of much smaller size. 



,* Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc, iv. (1914) pp. 331-40. 



t Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., xxxii. (1914) pp. 254-6 (1 pi.). 



X Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc, iv. 2 (1914) pp. 298-300. 



2 c 2 



