82 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



New or Rare British Fung-i. — Garleton Rea {Trans. Brit. Mycol. 

 Soc, l!)2(i, 6, pt. 4, 822-30, 1 col. pi.). The descriptive list of novelties 

 contains two new species of Mycena, one Nolanea, and a new variety of 

 Plutem pldebopliorus. Asirosporina Schroet. is a genus new to Britain ; 

 one species is newly recorded for this country, another is new to science. 

 Asfrosporina includes species with irregular or rough spores formerly 

 classified under Iiiocijhe. Rea also describes a new Ascomycete, Urceo- 

 hlla Iridis, from Perthshire. A. L. S. 



Comparative Research on the Biology of Wood-destroying Fungi. 

 —Bruno Radau (Beifr. Biol. Pfl. {Cohii), 1917, 13, 375-458, 6 pis). 

 The author comments on the economic necessily of understanding the 

 luology of fungi that attack forest trees. For the present elaborate 

 study he selected Polyporus iyniarins as one of th^most wide.spread and 

 most dangerous parasites of deciduous trees. He examined the tissues 

 of a number of trees, Alnus incana, Betula alba, Carpinas Betalus, etc., 

 and records his results in detail. In Section III. he summarizes the 

 results as affecting different parts of the tree. The mycelium of the 

 Polyporus cannot penetrate cork ; the fungus is therefore a wound 

 parasite. A. L. S. 



Boletus conglobatus sp. n. — K. Blagaic-Zagreb {Hedwiyia, 1918, 

 60, lo-ll) The new Jlolefifs gvew cAo&e to oak-trees iusomew-hat light 

 soil from July to September in Maksimii-. It is characterized by the 

 yellow flesh of the pileus and the brown fusiform spores. A L. S. 



Red Squirrel of North America as a Mycophagist. — A. H. R. 

 Buller {Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc, 1920, 6, pt. 4, 355-62). Field 

 observations on the eating of mushrooms by squirrels, rabbits, etc., have 

 already been made in this country. Buller describes the mushroom- 

 eating habit of squirrels in North America. He sums up thus : — The 

 red squirrel of North America not only feeds on tlie seeds of fir-cones, 

 hazel-nuts, etc., but is also an habitual mycophagist. In the late 

 autumn it often collects fleshy fuugi in large numbers for its winter 

 supply of food, and it stores these fungi sometimes en masse in holes in 

 tree-trunks, old bird's nests, etc., and sometimes separately on the 

 branches of certain trees. A. L. S. 



New British Coprini. — A. H. R. Buller {Trans. Brit. Mycol Soc.^ 

 1920. 6, pt. 4, 3();;-5). The first to ha described is new to science, 

 Goprinus echinosporus, with finely echinulate or warted spores. It was 

 found on sticks taken from a pool at Kew in October, 1911. The other 

 two were also found at Kew. Full descriptions are given. A. L. S. 



Significance of Sex and Nuclear Fusion in the Fungi. — Harold 

 "WaCtEU {Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc. 192ii. 6, pt. 4, 305-17). The author 

 gives an outline of the occurrence and manner of sexual fusion in the 

 different fungus families. Sexuality, he states, is characterized by 

 the association of two cells, each with its nucleus, and their fusion to 

 form a zygote, at a definite period in the life-history of any plant ov 

 animal in which it occurs. But though fusion is necessary for the 

 blending of hereditary characters, it is not essential for growth and 



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