BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 3 



come from tlic NewfonndlaiKl fisheries, and I jiresume that the same is 

 true of those from Bordeaux, although I have no definite information on 

 this point, nor is there any mention of the kind of salt generally used 

 in the French iisheries. 



A word should be Siiid in relation to the distribution of the Sarcina 

 morrhuw and Oidlum imlvinatmn. After my note in the Report of 1878 

 had gone to press, there appeared a imper* by Poulsen, in which he 

 described a new species, ISarcma liioralis, found on mud near Copenha- 

 gen. As the description of Poulsen's species corresponded very nearly 

 to my 8. morrJiucc, I sent a specimen of the latter species to the Danish 

 botanist, who expressed the oinnion that, in spite of a difference in the 

 micrometric measurements, it was the same as his S. litoralis. As the 

 latter name appeared in print before the Eeport of 1878, it has priority. 

 The most recent reference to the Sarcina is in the Miscellanea Myco- 

 logical of Saccardo and Berlese, who recognized the species on the sur- 

 face of codfish sent from Algiers by Prof. L. Trabut. They consider 

 the Goniotliecium hertlierandi of Megnin to be identical with 8. litoralis 

 Poulsen, which they state is considered by Zopf a condition of Beggia- 

 toa roseo-persicina., under which name Zopf includes Clathrocystis roseo- 

 persicina as a zooglcea form. Both in this country and Algiers the Sar- 

 cina is found iu company with the Clathrocystis, but it does not seem to 

 me to be well proved that the two forms belong to the same species. As 

 it occurs on our coast, the Sarcina is quite destitute of any purple or rose 

 color, and the size of the cells as well as their conformation does not 

 lend any support to the view that the Sarcina is a stage of the Beg- 

 giatoa. In the present connection the point of interest is that the Sar- 

 cina is found on codfish in countries as far apart as New England and 

 Algiers, and on mud iu salt marshes in Denmark. A Sarciyia was found 

 by Patouillard on salted pork, and he thinks it probable that the spe- 

 cies is the same as that found on codfish. If this supposition is correct, 

 we have in the Sarcina a form which may have been communicated to 

 the codfish by the salt used in curing. In general, it may be said that, 

 with T:he exception of the long-known Sarcina ventriculi, but little is 

 known by botanists of the species of this genus. 



The third species, Oidium pulvinatum Farlow, is a distinctly higher 

 form than the others. It forms small brown spots on the surface of the 

 dried cod, and is said to injure the sale of the fish; but I do not possess 

 any definite information about the extent of the injury. The fungus 

 would be placed by botanists in the HyphomyceteSj and I was in doubt 

 whether to consider it a Torula or an Oidium. The color and texture 

 of the spores remind one rather of Torula, while, on the other hand, the 

 ramification and pulvinate character of the mycelium resemble rather 

 certain forms formerly referred to Oidium. The name Oidium pulvinatum 



* Oui nogle inikroskopiske Planteorgauismen, V. A. Poulsen. Vidensk. Meddel. 

 naturh. Foren., Copenliagen. 1880. 



t Atti del R. Istituto Veueto, Ser. VI, Vol. 3. 



