ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 641 



t 



Various biological or systematic notes are given of the different species 

 listed. 



Agaricaceae. — W. A. Murrill * gives an account of gill-fungi, with 

 colourless and with ochraceous or ferruginous spores, that occur on the 

 Pacific coast. He pursues his usual method of re-arranging genera and 

 species. In this instance he has described many new species of Lepiota 

 and of other genera. There are many new forms recorded of Gymnopilus, 

 which name has superseded the more familiar Flammula. 



Ch. van Bambekef has given descriptions or notes of 100 species of 

 white-spored Agaricacefe, distinguished by the care with which micro- 

 scopic details are examined and in many cases figured, especially those 

 that have a bearing on the specific characters of the plant, including 

 basidia, cystidia, spores, etc. 



Hymenomycetes of Lappland.| — L. Romell tells us he spent the 

 month of August in two successive years in the most northern parts of 

 Sweden, and devoted his attention to the larger fungi. He has published 

 the list of species found by him in those regions, with copious notes 

 which generally include microscopic details as to the nature of the spores, 

 etc. A number of new species were determined by him. An index of 

 the species is appended to the paper. 



Excretion of Water by Fungi.§ — In Basidiomycetes that develop in 

 very moist conditions there is a constant excretion of water, and F. Knoll 

 has made a study of the hydathodes or hairs that perform the excretory 

 function. They are one-celled, rather long and narrow, and may occur 

 on various parts of the plant : on the sterile surface of the fruiting body 

 or on the surface of the hymenium. In all these hairs at the points 

 where the water escaped, a mucilaginous degeneration of the wall took 

 place. The different types of hydathodes are described. 



Ceylon Phalloideae. II — T. Fetch gives a further contribution to our 

 knowledge of these remarkable fungi. The species recorded were already 

 known, but Fetch has given details of growth and development from his 

 own observation of living specimens. Incidentally he remarks that the 

 ludicrous figures of phalloids published in the early days of mycology 

 were probably taken from specimens damaged during expansion. A 

 species of Protuhera was kept under observation in the hope that it 

 Avould rupture, but except by accident the outer wall remains intact and 

 when mature resembles a " bladder filled with liquid." Photographs 

 are pubhshed of the different phalloids described. 



Australian Gasteromycetes.l — Leonard Rodway gives a sketch of 

 the position of the study of fungi in Australia, with special reference to 



* Mycologia, iv. (1912) pp. 231-62. 

 t Bull. Soc. Roy. Belg., xlix. (1912) pp. 37-110 (figs.). 

 : Ark. Bot., xi. No. 3, 35 pp. (2 pis.). 



§ Ber. Deutsch. Bot. GeselL, xxx (1912) pp. 36-44 (6 figs.). 

 II Ann. Roy. Gard. Peradeniya, v. (1912) pp. 1-21 (5 pis.). 

 4 Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasmania (1911) pp. 21-31 (1 pi.). 



December 18th, 1912 2 x 



