640 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



mould Aspergillus ffavescens. Culture experiments were made, and it 

 was found that the fungus developed only when the caterpillars were 

 kept at a high temperature, but in that condition the growth was rapid 

 and fatal. Infection had evidently taken place from spores taken into 

 the digestive tract of the caterpillar along with its food. 



Studies of Peniciliium. — G. Bainier and A. Sartory* made cultures 

 of FenicUUum Herquei sp. n., which they found on the leaves of an 

 exotic plant. It was chiefly remarkable for the coloration produced in 

 the culture. On potato, etc., there was produced a deep golden colour. 

 On peptone media the pigment became a beautiful green. The pigment 

 was examined and its properties noted. 



The same authorsf describe another new species, P. Olsoni, which 

 they discovered on banana bark. They cultivated it on various media, and 

 found that it most readily developed on carrot, banana, and potato. It 

 differs from other species of the genus in the verticillate position of the 

 fertile branchlets. 



UredinesB. — P. DietelJ points out that Buller is mistaken in con- 

 sidering that Uredo Vitis, a stage of Phalopsora Vitis, is identical with 

 Uredo cronartiiformis Barcl. He states the points of difference in spore 

 characters, in colour, and thickness of membrane. Barclay's fungus 

 belongs also to Phakopsora, and should be known as P. Vitis. 



A fairly large series of IJrediuefB from Ceylon are described or listed 

 by T. Fetch, § belonging to many different genera. Many of the species 

 are new, and have been found on Ceylon plants. They are fully 

 described by the author, and new diagnoses are given of species pre- 

 viously determined. 



Ustilaginese. — P. Magnus || found among the Syrian material 

 collected by Bornmiiller in 1910 a gvdss, 3IeUca ctipani injected with a 

 smut Urocystis BornmiilUri sp. n. The fungus occurred in the seeds, 

 and is distinguished by the character of the covering cells of the spore- 

 balls. They lie flat on the internal cells when dry, but with moisture 

 they swell up and arch outwards. Measurements of spores and spore- 

 • balls are given. 



E. WerthlF has studied the development of another smut of Melan- 

 dryum alhum. Infection takes place after the death of the stigma, the 

 spores living as saprophytes for a time. The flower loses the power of 

 seed-formation. 



T. Petch ** has published a preliminary list of the Ustilaginege of 

 Ceylon. One of these, Ustilago emodensis, forms either spherical galls 

 on the inflorescence, or clustered conical outgrowths on the slem. 



* Bull. Soc. Mycol., xxviii. (1912) pp. 113-26 (1 pi.), 

 t Ann. Mycol., x. (1912) pp. 398-9 (1 pL). 

 J Ann. Mycol., x. (1912) pp. 385-6. 

 § Ann. Roy. Gard. Peradeniya, v. (1912) pp. 229-56. 

 II Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., xxx. (1912) pp. 290-3 (4 figs.). 

 t Arbeit, k. Biol. Anst. Land-Forstwirtsch., xiii. (1911) pp. 427-50. See also 

 Ann. Mycol., x. (1912) pp. 426-7. 



** Ann. Bot. Gard. Peradeniya, v. (1912; pp. 223-9. 



