484 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



breeding ground for Fames semitostus and other fungi. The ants follow 

 destroying roots already attacked by the fungus, and in the case of 

 standing trees a high wind blows them over. Some microfollin' that 

 attack roots are also described. On stems and twigs he records a large 

 number of parasitic forms, several of them new and peculiar to Hevea. 

 Finally on the fruit there is found the same PhytopMhora that attacks 

 cocoa-pods. No method has yet been devised of effectually dealing with 

 this fungus, but as the fruit is only valuable on account of the seed, the 

 economic damage Is so far negligible. 



New Subterranean Parasite.* — A. Trotter found at Avellino on 

 the roots of Crepis bulbosa protuberances or galls 4-5 mm. in diameter, 

 quite distinct from the tubers natural to the plant. He describes the 

 microscopic structure of these galls and of the fungus ; the spores of 

 which filled the numerous cavities. The gall itself is formed of the 

 tissue of the host-plant excited to abnormal growth by the presence of 

 the parasite. 



Notes on Portuguese Mycology.f — C. Torrend remarks on the 

 very abundant phanerogamic flora of Portugal, and compares it with 

 the cryptogamic, which promises to be equally rich. He gives coloured 

 figures and descriptions of some rare forms that he has found there 

 recently : Lycoperdon fragile, a species common in America ; Terfezia 

 rosea, one of the Tuberaceee ; Colus hirudinosus, a Phalloid found in 

 S. France, Algeria, and New Caledonia ; finally, Torrendia pulchella, one 

 of the Hymenogastracere that grows in the open. It has a distinct 

 stalk, and a pileus in which is a chambered receptacle. These fungi are 

 illustrated by coloured plates. 



Peptonification of Milk by Moulds.]:— It has been found that 

 certain moulds coagulate milk and then peptonise the casein by the 

 secretion of trypsin. A. Sartory experimented with pure cultures of 

 some 80 moulds, and chronicles the results, which were very different in 

 species intimately connected morphologically. He suggests that this 

 property of the moulds might be used as a specific test. In some cases 

 the action was rapid, 3 days or so, in others slow, 11 to II days ; in 

 others again there was no peptonification produced. 



Atkinson, Geo. F. — Notes on some New Species of Fungi from the United 

 States. 



[Species belonging to the Hyinenomycetes.] 



Ann. Mycol., vi. (1908) pp. 54-62. 



Bresadola, J. — Fungi aliquot gallici novi vel minus cogniti. (Some French 

 fungi new or little known.) 



[The fungi were collected by H. Bourdot, in the neighbourhood of Moulins.] 



Tom. cit., pp. 37-47. 



Bubak, Fe. — Neue oder Kritische Pilze. (New or critical fungi.) 



[New species are diagnosed, and copious notes are given on others — all 

 microfungi.] Tom. cit., pp. 22-9 (13 figs.). 



* Ann. Mycol., vi. (1908) pp. 19-22 (3 figs.). 



f Bull. Soc. Portug. Sci. Nat., i. (1908) pp. 177-83 (1 pi.). 



j C.B. Soc. Biol. Paris, lxiv. (1908) pp. 789-90. 



