80 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Lapland, among them two new species of Cseoma, one on Viola epispila, 

 the other on Saxifraga cernua. 



F. T. Brooks * writes on the life-history of the Plum-rnst in 

 England. By infection experiments he was able to prove that the aeci- 

 diospores of j^cidium pundatum (on Anemone coronaria) produced uredo 

 pustules on plum leaves. During the last two years there have been 

 severe epidemics of Plum-rust in the fruit plantations of Cambridge. 

 Anemone coronaria is common there in gardens : if the plants were eradi- 

 cated, the extermination of the Plum-rust would certainly be faciUtated. 



F. D. Kern t publishes a second article on the Rusts of Guatemala. 

 The specimens were collected by the late W. A. Kellerman. Several of 

 the species listed are interesting on account of their spore-characters. 

 One new species of Uromyces on Goiiania domingensis is described. 



Bunt Infection. I — B. Steglich publishes further information about 

 the spread of the Bunt fungus Tdletia. This takes place easily by means 

 of manure spread on the fields : but if the manure be kept back a certain 

 time, till after all the spores have presumably germinated, the risk of 

 further infection is very much lessened. Many of the spores were in- 

 jured as to their germinating capacity during their passage through the 

 intestines of the animals that had eaten the bunted corn, but enough of 

 them remained intact and able to cause an epidemic if fresh dung were 

 spread on the fields where the new grain was sown. 



Research on Coprinus.§ — James R. Weir describes the succession 

 of Coprinus species that appear on dung : Coprinus ephemerus and 

 C. ephemeroides, then C. niveus, G. fimetarius, and others ; last of all 

 C. papilleatus. He describes the dissolving of the pileus into an inky 

 fluid caused by self-digestion due to an enzyme, and entirely inde- 

 pendent of bacterial action. 



He found that the spore walls were formed almost exclusively of 

 chitin, all except the black colouring matter. In the stalk chitin occurs 

 in the outer parts rather than in the centre ; in the pileus also in the 

 outer layers ; the gills are chiefly formed of other substances, which 

 dissolve very readily. Any portion of the fungus can form new sporo- 

 phores, which vary, however, in size, according to position, age, etc. In 

 addition to the central strands of tissue, and the mechanical tissue, there 

 is a system of branched hyphaj — the so-called laticiferous system. In 

 all the species there was a more or less evident polarity, which resulted 

 in a more ready regenerative process in the parts turned away from the 

 substratum. Grafting was successfully carried out, especially on the 

 central zone of the stalk. Coprinus fimetarius var. macrorhiza, which 

 possesses a root-like sclerotium, showed remarkable powers of regenera- 

 tion and a great indifference to light. Other interesting results are 

 promised in a future paper. 



* New Phvtologist, x. (1911) pp. 207-8. 

 t Mycologia, iii. (1911) pp. 288-90. 



X Fiihlings Landw. Zeitung, Ix. (1911) p. 54. See also Bot. Centralbl., cxvii. 

 (1911) p. 379. 



§ Flora, n.s , iii. (1911) pp. 263-320 (25 figs.). 



