690 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



mination of the spores. He made artificial cultures, and found that any 

 invasion of bacteria or moulds hindered the development of the Meru- 

 lius, and that the finest growth was obtained in acid solutions that were 

 unfavourable to bacteria. Wood itself was less advantageous than arti- 

 ficial media. He found, however, that bacteria did not readily develop 

 on wood. 



J. Beauverie * has written a lengthy treatise on the same subject. 

 He gives a scientific account of the fungus, discusses the conditions 

 favourable to growth, the influence of different media in artificial culture, 

 and the chemical products of growth. He then takes up the technical 

 side of the question ; the woods that are specially liable to attack, and 

 the conditions that favour development. He gives various methods of 

 detecting the presence of the hyphae, and advises as to the means of 

 combating the fungus when it has gained an entry into a house ; above 

 all, proper ventilation must be secured. Various antiseptics are also of 

 use to sterilise the wood. 



New Species of Microfungi.f — Gr. Cocconi describes a new Absidia, 

 which grows on horse-dung. The sporangiophores grow in groups of 

 3 to 5, and are often branched. The spores are somewhat echinulate. 

 Lack of nutrition induces the formation of zygospores, which are almost 

 globose. If the sexual hyphae fail to fuse together, azygospores are 

 formed, which germinate like the zygospores. 



Cocconi also describes % a species of Ghcetomium ; the spores are 

 ovate, with a colourless papilla at one end. The author describes the 

 various cultures that he made. 



Teratology of Fungi.§ — Ferdinand Filarszky describes the cases of 

 anomalous growth or malformation among the higher fungi. He in- 

 cludes among these the cases of cohesion between different individuals, 

 proliferation, abnormal growth of the stalk at the expense of the pileus, 

 excessive development of stalk or head, malformation of the hymeno- 

 phore, and either dwarfing or overgrowth of any of the plants. 



Production of Citric Acid by Citromyces.|| — The species of fungi 

 belonging to the genus Citromyces produce citric acid in sugar solutions, 

 and have been used commercially for the production of the acid. 

 P. Maze and A. Perrier have studied the process, and give their results. 

 They find that these moulds (nearly allied to Penicilliurri) grow freely 

 on organic acids. They have isolated four different species, which they 

 call Citromyces citricus, G. tartar icus, C. oxalicus, and G. lacticus. They 

 consider the acid formed by the fungus to be an accidental product of 

 " disassimilation," when nitrogen is exhausted in the culture, and sugar, 

 glycerine or alcohol are still present in abundance. They give details of 

 the different experiments, and the chemical results arrived at. 



* Ann. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 1. (1904) pp. 1-63 (9 figs.). 



t Mem. Acad. Bol., viii. ser. 5, pp. 85-90 (1 pi.). See also Centralbl. Bakt., xii. 

 (1904) p. 738. 



X Tom. cit., pp. G83-88 (1 pi.). See also Centralbl. Bakt., xii. pp. 738-9. 

 § Math. Naturwiss. Ber.TJngarn, xix. (1904) pp. 357-62. 

 || Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xviii. (1904) pp. 553-75. 



