ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 751 



special attention to the edible and poisonous species, and gives a 

 descriptive list of the principal forms. 



Edible Fungi* — Marius Grandjean gives a report of the fungi 

 offered for sale at Lucerne during the season of 1909 from May to 

 December. A large number of species, 106 in all, were brought for 

 inspection : 15 were poisonous, 13 suspect, and 7H edible. The different 

 lists are published. 



Poisonous Fungi. — Ed. Butignotf describes a case of poisoning in 

 Switzerland from eating Glitocybe geotropa, which was severe, but not 

 fatal. The fungi had been collected ten days previously, and the 

 trouble was probably due to their age. 



An account \ of three poisonous species has been published by the 

 Board of Agriculture. They are: Volvaria gloiocephala, Gortinarius 

 purpurascens, and Stropharia aeruginosa, the last-named by far the 

 commonest and very easily determined on account of the verdigris 

 colour of the cap. 



W. W. Ford § writes on the distribution of poisons in mushrooms, 

 of the active principle in each poisonous species, and of its physiological 

 reactions. He considers that chemical examination should be sufficient 

 to detect the toxin properties of the plants. 



Relations between Callose and Fungose. || — C. Tauret refuses to 

 accept Mangin's view that the chitine of fungi is of the same quality as 

 callose. Tauret proves by the different reactions to alkali of the two 

 substances that there is a very considerable difference, and as the one is 

 termed callose, he gives to the substance derived from fungi the title 

 fungose. He holds that callose, which is insoluble in alkalis, must be 

 a much more complex body than fungose, which is soluble. 



Resistance of Vegetable Tyrosinases to High Temperatures. f — 

 G. Bertrand and Rosenblatt have made a series of experiments on these 

 substances derived from several of the higher plants, and also from 

 fungi. They find that those obtained from fungi, species of Amanita, 

 Tricholoma, Lactarius, Rmsula, Hypholoma, etc., are destroyed at a lower 

 temperature than those extracted from the higher plants. They explain 

 their method of working, and caution experimenters against generalizing 

 too lightly on the qualities of such substances without verifying their 



origin. 



Nuclear Phenomena of Sexual Reproduction in Fungi.** — R. A. 

 Harper has reviewed the work done on this subject in recent years, and 

 sums up the facts established thus : — 1. The fusion of multinucleated 

 gametes. 2. The male element "may be a mass of gonoplasm, rather 

 than a definitely bounded cell. 3. Endokaryogamy, the fusion of nuclei 



* Bull. Soc. Myool. France, xxvi. (1910) pp. 1269-71. 

 + Tom. cit., pp. 266-8. 



I Journ. Board Agric, xvii. (1910) pp. 475-6(3 col. pis.). 



§ Science, n.s. xxx. (1909) pp. 97-108. See also Bot. Centralbl., cxiv. (1910) 

 p. 327. || Comptes Rendus, cli. (1910) pp. 447-9. 



f Ann. Inst. Pasteur, xxiv. (1910) pp. 653-7. 

 ** Amer. Nat., xliv. (1910) pp. 533-46. 



