No. 3, October, 1921] MORPHOLOGY AND TAXONOMY OF FUNGI, ETC. 245 



facultative gametes. Their fusion in pairs was observed and the further development of both 

 the unpaired zoospore and the zygote was followed in detail. Temperature is not the factor 

 determining the sexual or asexual natiircof the motile cells of the sorus, but it is believed that 

 when water is withheld after the formation of the zoospores so that a maturation period inter- 

 venes prior to their discharge, the simultaneous discharge from several sporangia upon the 

 renewal of a water supply causes the motile cells to act as gametes. Tt is believed that 

 gametes fuse only with those of another sporangium. The soral zoospores are smaller than 

 those produced by the resting sporangium but are otherwise similar; penetration by both 

 kinds of zoospores and by the zygote is essentially the same. Either type of zoospore gives 

 rise to a prosorus but the zjgote produces a resting sporangium. The development of the 

 latter resembles that of the sorus in the earlier stages; the substance of the nucleolus is repeat- 

 edly given off into the nuclear vacuole, the chromatin disappears, and a mass of linin remains. 

 Subsequently chromatic granules appear in the cytoplasm; these become difTerentiated into 

 chromatic and achromatic parts and are the primordia of zoospores. A reduction process is 

 believed to supervene when all the chromatic material of the primordium except a single 

 granule is given off into the cytoplasm; from this granule the nucleus of the zoospore is formed. 

 A blepharoplast upon which the cilium is later inserted is connected with the nucleus by a 

 strand. IMitotic divisions characteristic of the developing sorus are absent in the resting 

 sporangium, and despite the sexual origin of these bodies clear evidence of reduction in their 

 development is wanting. When more than 1 zygote penetrates a host cell the supernumerary 

 cysts are distributed by mitotic divisions of the host cell. In this way resting sporangia 

 come to lie several layers deep in the host tissue. The resting sporangium has a 3-layered 

 membrane; the 2 inner ones are derived from the parasite, the outer from the disorganizing 

 host cell. Rupture of the membrane results from swelling of the innermost layer in a conical 

 internal projection. This species is precisely described by Schroter's diagnosis of the 

 division Mesochijtrium of the genus Pijcnochytrium, but the author prefers to retain 

 Fischer's generic name Synchylrium. Earlier references to the occurrence of giant zoospores 

 with 2 cilia in this group are confirmed by the present study and interpreted as resulting 

 from sexual fusions. The demonstration of the existence of sexuality in all Synchytriaceae 

 which produce true resting sporangia is predicted. — F. Weiss. 



1516. DoiDGE, Ethel M. South African Ascomycetes in the National Herbarium. Both- 

 alia 1 : 5-32. Fig. 1-5. 1921 . — Fifty ascomycetes are described including the four new genera 

 MacOwaniella, Isipinga, and Palawaniella belonging to the Polystomellaceae, and Parastig- 

 matea of the family Stigraateaceae. Descriptions are given of the following new species: 

 Cycloschizon fimbriatum, Cocconia capensis, Polyrhizon Bewsii, Isipinga areolata, Elmerococ- 

 cum Peglerae, Rosenscheldia horridula, Parastigmatea nervisita, Phragmodothella nervisequen, 

 Catacauma Peglerae, Scolecodothis capensis, Phyllachora Lesserliae, Phyllachorellarikatliensis, 

 Endodothella natalensis. — E. M. Doidge. 



1517. DoiDGE, Ethel IM. South African Perisporiaceae. VI. The haustoria of the genera 

 Meliola and Irene. Trans. Roy. Soc. South Africa 9: 117-127. 7 fig. 1921.— The haustoria 

 of several species are examined; the most common type is that which has a fine filament pene- 

 trating the cuticle and a small, globular, thin-walled, uninucleate vesicle in the epidermal 

 cell. The nature of the penetrating filament appears to be specific in character and not cor- 

 related with the thickness of the cuticle traversed. Certain species penetrate into the first 

 chlorophyll-containing cells of the mesophyll. The character of the penetrating filament 

 is of diagnostic value and may, in some cases, be emploj'ed as a determining factor when there 

 is any question of the identity of 2 species. — E. M. Doidge. 



1518. DuRAND, Elias J. New or noteworthy Geoglossaceae. Mycologia 13: 1S4-1S7. 

 1921. — The author clarifies several species previously described and gives technical descrip- 

 tions of Trichoglossum confusuryi n. sp. and T. Wrightii n. sp., the latter raised to specific 

 rank from T. hirsutum forma Wrightii Durand. — H. R. Rosen. 



