ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 627 



Notes on Lycoperdon sculptum.* — W. A. Setchell describes this 

 large puff-ball from the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. He 

 accounts for the different times it has been collected high up among the 

 mountains, usually on alluvial soil beside streams, but also in drier 

 localities among pines. It is characterised by well-marked sculpturings 

 on the outer wall ; the spores are minute, the capillitium threads short 

 and unbranched. From the mode of dehiscence — the breaking up of 

 the peridium into plates — it has been referred by some authors to 

 Calvatia. 



Revision of Ceylon Fungi. f — This task has been undertaken by 

 T. Petch, who points out the inevitableness of mistakes when diagnoses 

 or determinations are made on dried specimens alone. A study of 

 fresh material on the spot results in the reduction of a number of 

 species already described, though new forms must lie added as so many 

 have been overlooked by passing collectors. Redescriptions of species 

 add to the value of the work. 



Effect of Formic Acid on Fungi.J — This study was taken up by 

 Henri Coupin to discover if possible why the fungi of ants' nests never 

 produced the fruiting forms. He found that Rhizopus nigricans, grown 

 in atmospheres impregnated with formic acid of varying densities, was 

 influenced by the acid chiefly in the reproductive organs, which may 

 disappear altogether while the mycelium continues to grow. 



Biology of Wood-destroying Fungi.§ — 0. Rumbold has cultivated 

 on artificial media a large number of the higher fungi that grow 

 normally on wood. Her aim was to find out how far Hartig's state- 

 ment was correct that only in dry-rot do the clamp-cells (Schnallen- 

 zellen) grow out, and also to test the comparative influence of acid on 

 alkaline media, on the growth of mycelium, and on germination of spores. 

 Rumbold proved that clamp-cells grow out whenever present ; that no 

 wood-fungus grew on alkaline media, but if the alkali was so weak as to 

 be neutralised by the action of the fungus itself, a slow development of 

 the mycelium was possible. Dry-rot was the most susceptible to alkalis. 



Phosphorescent Fungi. || — Hans Mollisch, writing on this subject, 

 insists upou two points : 1. It is impossible to decide whether a fungus 

 is phosphorescent unless pure cultures of the mycelium have been made, 

 culture methods being given. 2. No conclusion can be drawn from 

 finding the fructification of a fungus on phosphorescent wood as to its 

 identity with the cause of the phosphorescence. He finds that a number 

 of forms have been erroneously considered as phosphorescent, such as 

 Xylaria Hypoxylon, X. Cookei, Trametes Pini, Polyporus sulfureus, 

 Collybia c/rrhata, etc. 



* Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xxxv. (1908) pp. 291-5 (1 pi.). 

 + Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Peradenya, Ceylon, iv. (1907) pp. 21-68. 

 X Comptes Rendus, cxlviii. (1908) pp. 80-1. 



§ Nat. Zeit. Land.-Forstw., vi. (1908) pp. 81-141 (1 pi. and 1 4 figs.). See also 

 Bot. Centralbl., cvii. (1908) pp. 518-19. 



Wiesner Festschrift. Wien : Carl Konegen, 1908, pp. 19 23. See also 

 Hedwigia, xlvii. (1908) Beibl. p. 170. 



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