432 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Research in Mycology.* — Oscar Brefeld has issued a new volume 

 containing studies of smuts and of some of the spore forms of the higher 

 fungi. He discusses the influence of the smut fungi on the plants 

 attacked, and the development of the fungus itself in "the open and in 

 the tissues of the host. Some of the allied genera and species are de- 

 scribed and the diseases produced by the attacks. 



Two chapters are occupied by an account of chlamydospore formation 

 in Phycomycetes, Ascomycetes, and Basidiomycetes, and they are com- 

 pared one with another throughout the fungal kingdom. 



Soil Fungi. — A research on soil fungi has been conducted by 

 H. N. Goddard.t He desired to isolate the fungi and to determine not 

 only the forms, but their distribution as to depth, nature of soil in 

 which they occurred, and their power to assimilate atmospjieric nitrogen. 

 A list of the species found is pubHshed, most of them Hyphomycetes. 

 He found that the forms were fairly constant in different soils, that 

 they were uniformly distributed at alldepths examined, and that tillage 

 and manuring produced little change. Many of the fungi showed great 

 variabiiity when cultivated. One species he considered to be a destruc- 

 tive wilt-disease ; the other species were saprophytes. 



Influence of Substratum on Wood-destroying Fungi. |—C. Rum- 

 bold experimented with CeratostomelJa and GrapMum, microscopic fungi 

 that destroy wood and give it a blue colour. They were very sensitive 

 to the presence of alkalis, less to acids, both in spore-production and in 

 the development of the mycelium. Comparisons are drawn between 

 these fungi and some of the larger wood species, and results are given 

 that have a bearing on the sterilization of wood. Creosol and creosote 

 proved to be the best reagents for hindering the growth of Coniophora, 

 Lenzites, and Polystictus. 



The author finally discusses the systematic position of Graphium and 

 Geratostomella ; in two species the latter was tlje fully developed stage 

 of the other. 



Iron-storing Hyphomycetes.§— In water holding iron in solution it 

 has been found that certain fungi are able to extract the iron from the 

 water and to store it in their membranes. Citromyces siderophilus is 

 one of the most effective of these iron-fungi, but it grows well in solu- 

 tions without iron. Notes are given as to the influence of various iron 

 compounds on the growth of the fungus. 



Fixation of Calcium in Aspergillus niger.||— M. Robert has studied 

 the chemical biology of this fungus. She finds oxalic acid present, and 

 oxalate of calcium when calcium has been supplied in the culture. The 

 formation of the acid is not induced by the presence of the calcium, but 

 is a normal product of the fungus. 



* Untersuch. aus dem Gesammt-gebiete der Mykologie, xv. (Munster, 1912) 

 151 pp. (7 pis.). 



t 13th Rep. Mich. Acad. Sci. (1911) pp. 208-14. 



X Naturw. Zeitschr. Forst.-Landw., ix. (1911) p. 429. See also Bot. Centralbl 

 cxix. (1912) p. 496. 



§ Jahrb. wiss. Bot., \. (1912) pp. 328-54. See also Bot. Centralbl., cxix. (1912) 

 pp. 495-6. ^ ' 



II Comptes Rendus, cliv. (1912) pp. 1308- 10. 



