672 MMARY OF I QRRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



growing extensively in the United Stales. The mature ascospores have 

 the form of a long filament, with two swollen ends. There are eight of 

 these in the ascus, and Lewis has studied this development to arrive at a 

 righl understanding of the systematic position of the species. He comes 

 to the conclusion that each one of these represents but one spore made 

 up of three cells, those at each end being swollen, and each one function- 

 ing as a spore, the connecting cell heing sterile. The species, therefore, 

 belongs to the genus Pleurage and not to the 10-spored Philocopra, to 

 which it w r as transferred by Saccardo. 



Alcoholic Ferment of Yeast-juice.* — A. Harden and W. J. Young 

 have tested the influence of arsenates and arsenites on the fermentation 

 of sugars by yeast-juice to see if these acted similarly to phosphates. 

 The action they found was very marked, causing acceleration in the rate 

 of production of carbon-dioxide and alcohol. Arsenites act in the same 

 way but not so vigorously ; both substances cause total inhibition of 

 the fermentation when they are present in a highly concentrated form. 

 Other results were tabulated and are discussed in the paper. 



Sphseropsideae. — H. and P. Sydow| describe a fungus ScUropyrnis 

 abietina g. etsp.n., collected by F. W. Neger on pine-branches. It has 

 a stromatoid base to the pyenidia, and the one-celled spores are given 

 off from cells all round the interior of the pyenidium. No definite 

 sporophores are formed. 



II. Diedicke | publishes notes on several genera of the series: 

 Dothiopsis, a genus with a pyenidium immersed simply in a stroma ; 

 Sclerophoma, in which the inner cell-layers become converted into spores, 

 and Sclerotiopsis, which has a somewhat soft stroma ; the pyenidium is 

 chambered, and there is no ostiole. The species of each genus are listed. 



Parasitic Lichen-fungi. § — K. von Keiszler describes two new fungi 

 that he found parasitic on lichens. The first, Phoma physciicola, in- 

 fested the apothecia of Physcia aipolia. Another species of Phoma has 

 been described on the thallus of Phyma, but the new species differs in 

 the broadly ovate spores. 



He further found on the thallus of Hsematomma elatinum a fungal 

 perithecium, similar to Phoma in producing small colourless spores, but 

 differing in the formation of sterile hyphse on paraphyses among the 

 fertile sporophores. He names it Lichenophoma ffsematommatis g. etsp. n. 



Gum-inducing Diplodia of Peach and Orange.||— H. S. Fawcett and 

 0. F. Burger first obtained the species from peach- and orange-trees 

 in Florida, where it induced copious gumming. A series of inocula- 

 tions were made on healthy trees in order to test various modes of 

 inducing gummosis. The peach-trees began to gum in 4 to 7 days, 

 but in no case was any tree killed, though the tissues round the inocula- 

 tion area were destroyed. The fungus was also isolated from rotting 

 fruit of orange and from grape-fruit, in which it causes softening and 

 decay. 



* Proc. Roy. Soc, Series B, lxxxiii. (1911) pp. 451-75. 

 t Ann. Mycol., ix. (1911) pp. 277-8 (4 figs.), 

 t Ann. Mycol., ix. (1911) pp. 279-85 (1 pi.), 

 § Hedwigia, 1. (1911) pp. 294-8 (2 figs.). 

 !1 Myeologia, iii. (1911) pp. 151-3. 



