i9fo« Irish Societies* loi 



DUBLIN MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 



March 9. — The Club met at I.einster House. Dr. G. H. Pethybridge 

 (^President) in the chair, 



C, F. BaTvI, showed some preparations of CiinurbitaHa Piceae, a new 

 species of fungus found last year in Scotland, and described by Dr_ 

 Borthwick of Edinburgh. It has been found in two gardens in Co. Dublin 

 growing upon Picea pungens. The glaucous variety of this tree is one of 

 the hardiest and most ornamental of conifers, so it would be a serious 

 loss to parks and gardens if the fungus became widespread. An affected 

 tree is entirely disfigured by a bad attack, the lower branches seem to be 

 always injured before the upper ones. The buds of the tree are killed 

 b}' the fungus, and the leaves also turn brown, and drop off. 



In the winter stage the fungus appears on the buds, and to the e\e is 

 like a black stroma dotted with round papillre. These papillie are the 

 fructifications of the fungus, which is a pyrenocarpous ascomycete ; the 

 mycelium is found in the cortex. The pyrenocarp contains the 

 by menium of paraphyses, and asci, each ascus having 4 to 6 spores. The 

 spores are liberated gradually b}- an apical pore, and are very distinct ; 

 they are brown, and torpedo-shaped, and become multicellular by the 

 formation of transverse and longitudinal septa. 



Prof. G. H, Carpenter showed a wing-bud dissected out of a caterpillar 

 of Odontopera bidentata, and explained the method of wing-development 

 in the Lepidoptera and other metabolic insects. 



F. W. Moorp: exhibited a section of a diseased Vine-root on which a 

 parasitic fungus was present. The root had patches of diseased tissue of 

 varying size. In some parts the cortex and portions of the woodv 

 cylinder of the roots had decayed away. It was not possible to identifv 

 thef ungus in its existing condition. 



'&' 



EEVIEW. 



BLUE BUTTERFLIES. 



A Natural History of the British Lepidoptera : their World- 

 wide Variation and (yeographical Distribution. By J. W, TcTT, 

 F.F.S, Vol, X. London : Swan vSonnenschein & Co., 1908-9, pp. 410, 

 plates i.-liii. Price 20.<^. net. 

 This volume of Mr. Tutt"s great work is the third devoted to the 

 Butterflies (the second was reviewed in our pages two years ago, vol. 

 xvii., p. 142), It is characterized by the same thoroughness of treatment 

 as its predecessors, and by even greater wealth of detail. Onl}- five 

 species are described in the systematic portion of the volume, occupying 

 350 pages, so that each insect has on the average 70 pages devoted to 

 its consideration. The five butterflies dealt with in this volume are all 

 " Blues " belonging to the sub-family Lycseninae, and Mr. Tutt refers each 

 species to a distinct genus In this action he is in agreement with the 

 best modern continental and American authorities, and British students 

 of the Lepidoptera will probably come to recognise that the innovation 

 is justifiable. In our commonly used catalogues all these five insects 



