12 The Irish Naturalist. January, 



IIMSH SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Recent gifts include a Hamster from Mr. Pierce Mahony. Four new 

 Rhesus Monkeys have been acquired for the large open-air monkey-house, 

 and a Capybara has been received in exchange. 



DUBLIN MICROSCOPICAL CLUB. 



NovEMBiTP J. — The Club met at Leinster House. 



A. R. Nichols, M.A. (President), exhibited Irish specimens of 

 Mcvibranipora spinifera, showing the peculiar stalked avicularia situated 

 on the zooecium, just outside the row of .spines surrounding the 

 membranous front wall. 



F. W. Moore showed an inflorescence and individual ilower of 

 Biilbophyllum, lemniscatoides, Ralfe, a new and very rare orchid from 

 the East Indies. There is only one other species known in cultivation 

 in the section to which it belongs. Both species have peculiar long club, 

 shaped appendages hanging from the backs of the sepals. They are 

 attached by very fine filiform points and move about freely in light 

 currents of air. One of these appendages was shown under the microscope. 



W. F. GuNN exhibited Rose stems affected with Parasitic Rose 

 Canker. The disease is caused by an ascomycetous fungus Coniothyrium 

 Fuckelii (Sacc), and was first observed in Ireland about three j^ears 

 since at Larne, Co. Antrim. Specimens were sent to H. T. Giissow, who 

 investigated the disease and described it in the Journal of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society (vol. xxxiv., 1908, pt. 2). The first visible evidence 

 of the disease is a reddish discoloration of the bark caused by the invasion 

 of the tissues by the mycelium, followed by numerous minute swellings 

 with apical oj:)cnings. These swellings are caused by the fruiting bodies 

 which burst through the epidermis in order to liberate the contained 

 spores. As a result of the penetration of the tissues by the mycelium 

 the bark is killed, and as the stem swells by growth longitudinal cracks 

 arise. In the attempt to heal these wounds a growth of callus takes 

 place, which in turn is again invaded by the fungus. The continued 

 struggle between the fungus, which kills the newly formed tissues, and 

 the host which produces the healing cells, results in the unsightly cankered 

 masses, which characterise the disease, and may measure from two to 

 four or five inches in length. If the cankerous growth extends completely 

 round the stem death of the branch ensues. The spores are very minute 

 and gain entrance to the host tlirough wounds in the bark, which may 

 be caused, amongst other ways, by the spines of the Rose itself piercing 

 the epidermis of other branches when blown about by the wind. This 

 disease is quite distinct from the ordinary canker of the Rose which is 

 due to physiological causes, and not to the attack of anj' specific 

 organism. A longitudinal section of the bark passing through several 

 of the conceptacles was shown under a No. 3 Leitz objective. 



