328 SUMMARY OF CURREXT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



fungus which only affects the underground parts of the plant, and 

 appears at first as small circular deep-clay-coloured spots on its surface, 

 badly affected roots then becoming deep brown. Wet weather is 

 favourable to its spread. The fungus {Monilochsetes infuscans) is 

 described thus : " Spores borne in chains which readily break up ; 

 conidia hyahne to greenish, guttulate ; conidiophores black, several 

 septate : mycelium first hyaline, then darker with age. The suljmerged 

 mycelium swells irregularly. Conidiophores, 100 to 300 by ;> to 7 yu, ; 

 conidia, 15 to 20 by 4 to' G /x." The brown, blotched disease caused 

 by it reduces the value of the mature roots and also the average yield 

 by stunting the development of the younger rootlets. The fungus is 

 difficult to culture from its slow growth and being overrun by associated 

 saprophytes. The conidiophores are distinct from the mycelium ; the 

 conidia are borne in chains which readily break up when moistened 

 or disturbed. 



Lichens. 

 By A. LoRKAix Smith, F.L.S. 



Portuguese Lichens.* — Antonio X. P. Coutinho has just published 

 a descriptive list of Portuguese Lichens. In a short preface the author 

 enumerates the different workers on whose collections he has drawn 

 for this list. Chief among these are Welwitsch and, later, Henriques. 

 After each species the name of the collector is given. 



Coutinho records in all 208 species. He has followed the classification 

 adopted by A. Zahlbruckner in Engler and Prantl's Pflanzenfamilien. 



Verrucariacese of Central Europe. II. f — Herman Zschake continues 

 his work on this group of lichens. The present contribution deals with 

 Polyhlastia, which he has divided into various sections ; Coccospora, with 

 small spores ; Halospora, spores with a gelatinous wall ; Thelidioides, 

 spores muriform, colourless — and others. Keys to the species are given, 

 and each species is carefully described. 



Mycetozoa. 

 By A. LoRRAiN Smith, F.L.S. 



Mycetozoa of Australia and New Zealand.^ — W. N. Cheesman 

 and G. Lister have issued a list of Mycetozoa collected by the former 

 during a visit to Australasia with the British Association. There are 

 descriptions of the countries where they were found, both of the soil 

 and the climate. Over one hundred and fifty specimens were brought 

 home, and though no new species occurs amongst them, they are of 

 much value in extending the range of many Mycetozoa, some of which 

 have been considered more rare than they are. G. Lister has deter- 

 mined among them a new variety of Triclua BotryUs, as var. cerifera, 

 the stalk being studded with waxy deposits. 



* Lichenum Lusitauorum Herbarii Catalogus, Lisbou, 1916, 122 pp. 

 + Hedwigia, Iv. (1914) pp. 286-324. 

 X Joum. Bot., liii. (1915) pp. 203-12. 



