ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 215 



Wood-destroying Fungi.* — Richard Falck has made a biological 

 study of those fungi that are destructive to living trees, to felled tree?, 

 or to worked wood. He enumerates the different fungi of these groups, 

 each showing a different type of mycelium. In all of these, there is an 

 internal mycelium. In a fourth series, which embraces Merulius (dry 

 rot), some Polyporege, etc., a surface mycelium is formed. These are 

 compared and the rate of growth of the different hyphaa noted and 

 tabulated. It is constant for each species, and depends on the dimen- 

 sions of the mycelium, a purely physical consideration. 



Polyporaceae.t — The North American flora is gradually being 

 published, and W. A. Murrill has charge of the Polyporaceae. He treats 

 these according to his own rearrangements of genera and species. He 

 recognises 4 tribes : Porieas, with 8 genera ; Polyporeae, with 47 genera ; 

 Fomiteaa, with 10 genera ; and Daedaleae with 5 genera. The new genera 

 are Fuscoporia, Fuscoporella, Fomitiporia, Fomitiporella, Tinctoporia, 

 Melanoporella, and Melanoporia. A very large number of the species 

 described are new to science. 



New Localities for Amanita caesarea.J — This edible agaric is very 

 common in Italy and southern France, but less frequently met with further 

 north. M. W. Russell publishes a list of places where it has been 

 gathered : Fontainebleau, Versailles, etc., with some new localities also 

 in the north. The fungus is usually found on sandy soils. 



Diseases of Plants. § — F. D. Kern gives an account of the occur- 

 rence of ScUrotinia in the State of Indiana. The fungus in the conidial 

 stage is known as Monilia fructiyena, and causes rotting of certain stone 

 fruits. Peaches or plums finally shrivel up and become mummified 

 — on these dried fruits the ascospore-form Sclerotinia fructiyena is pro- 

 duced. It is rarely found, as it takes two years to develop, and occurs 

 on fruits that have been covered over by humus for some time. 



The same author || gives a list of diseases that have been identified in 

 the State of Indiana for some years past. These are classified under root- 

 diseases, affecting absorption of food materials ; stem-diseases, affecting 

 ascent of sap and transpiration ; those on wood, interfering with 

 absorption and transfer of water ; those on bark, affecting transpiration 

 only ; and on leaf, affecting transpiration and assimilation. 



T. Petch ^[ describes a disease of the tea-plants in Ceylon, caused by 

 the fungus Massaria thekola sp. n. It attacks the stem. 



E. J. Butler ** also describes diseases from the East Indies. On 

 Areca Catechu, a species of Phytophthora attacks and destroys the upper 

 parts of the tree. Another fungus, probably a Basidiomycete, destroys 

 the roots ; and on other palms he found a Pythium, which lived on and 

 destroyed the sheathing leaves of the crown. 



* Hausschwammforschungen, Jena (1907) pp. 53-154. See also CentralbL 

 Bakt., xx. (1908) pp. 348-51. 



t North American Flora, ix. pt. 1 (1907) 72 pp. New York Bot. Gard. 



X Bull. Soc. Bot. France, liv. (1907) pp. 25-6. 



§ Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci. (1906) pp. 134-6. 



II Tom. cit., pp. 129-33 (1 fig.). 



Tf Circ. and Agric. Journ. Roy. Bot. Gard. Ceylon, iv. (1907) pp. 21-30 (1 fig.). 

 See also Ann. Mycol. v. (1907) p. 445. 



** Agric. Journ. India, i. (1906) 12 pp. (2 pis.). See also Ann. Mycol., v. (1907) 

 pp. 450-1. 



