ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 343 



the closely allied family of Hypocreacete was well represented. He 

 describes three species of EpichJoe, one of them new. A large Balansia 

 gigas sp. n. was specially noteworthy ; it forms in the flower of Pas- 

 palum sp., the yellowish brown stroma, 1-2 cm. broad and high, 

 becoming studded all over with the stalked fruits. Species of Hypocrella 

 and Barya are also described and Ophionectria anomala, a new species. 



Notes on Erg^ot.* — The sclerotia of a CJaviceps found on Sesleria 

 cmrulea were forwarded to Rob. Stager, who used them to make an. 

 exhaustive series of cultui'e experiments on a large number of grasses,, 

 with negative results, except in the case of Melica nutans and M. uniflora. 

 He concludes that he is dealing with a biological form of Glaviceps pur- 

 purea, or, more probably, with a new species which he names C. Seslerke. 

 He gives a diagnosis of the species, and compares the conidia with 

 those of other species. They are much larger, and the appearance of 

 the sclerotiura in tranverse section is also different. 



Spread of the Gooseberry Disease.f — Wilhelm Herter traces the- 

 distribution and rapid increase of this disease, due to the fungus 

 Splicer otiieca mors-uvce, since its appearance in Europe in 1900. Like 

 other new parasites, it has spread with alarming rapidity, and since tlie 

 above date it has been recorded in Ireland, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, 

 Germany, Finland, Norway, and Hungary. It is doing enormous 

 damage, and unfortunately the usual spraying with fungicides is of 

 little avail. Rooting out and burning the diseased bushes has beeu 

 everywhere recommended. In Finland and Sweden the governments; 

 are aiding by forbidding fresh importations of bushes or of fruits, and 

 by paying the cost of destroying the attacked plants. Should the- 

 present race of bushes be hopelessly ruined, Herter thinks we must- 

 resort to new breeds which are found to be more immune than those 

 now in cultivation. 



Form of Colonies of the Lower Fungi. J — H. B. Hutchison has. 

 made comparative studies of the form of growth of a number of 

 bacteria, and also of two forms of Saccharomyces. His object was to- 

 test their sensitiveness to light, temperature, etc. He finds that the 

 lower organisms are very sensitive to light, especially in the jjresence of 

 oxygen. He describes the colonies, grown in darkness, of distillerj^ 

 yeast and Frohberg yeast, and notes differences in the cells according to 

 the position in the colony. He also studied growths of Oidium lactis 

 and Mycoderma, both the form and structure of the colonies. 



Atlas of the Saccharomycetes.§ — Many papers on Saccharomyces 

 have been published in recent years in different journals, and the know- 

 ledge and literature of the subject have increased very largely, both in 

 the detection of new forms and in the better understanding of those 

 yeasts in daily use for brewing, etc. ; but this knowledge has been 

 largely inaccessible to the ordinary student. Alfred C. Chapman and 

 F. G. S. Baker have therefore rendered a very great service to science in 



* Centralbl. Bakt., 2te Abt., xvii. (1907) pp. 773-84. 

 t Tom. cit., pp. 764-73 (2 figs.). 



t Tom. cit., pp 417-27 and 593-604 (4 pis. and 7 figs.). 



§ Brewery Trade Review, 13 Little Trinity Lane, E.G., 1906 (17 pis. and 

 102 figs.) 



