ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 191 



Distribution of Coprophilous Fungi.*— A. Schmidt o-ives a general 

 review of Milesian dang fungi, with descriptions of three new species. 

 He then describes the locahfcy and habitat of the different species, and 

 gives an account of the various methods of desseminating the spores. 

 He divides the fungi in this connexion into three groups. The first 

 group, in which the spores are dependent on heat, are taken up along with 

 the food of the larger animals and pass uninjured through the intestines. 

 The second group, though Uving also on dung, are independent of heat 

 for germination, and are dispersed bj insects, wind, etc. The third 

 group includes species of which the spores are dispersed by wind ; thev 

 inhal;)it various substrata as well as dung. The latter belong to the 

 genera Mucor, C/isefomium, A(/micus, etc. 



Resistance of Penicillium to Toxic Substances. f — Alf. C. Renard 

 gives the results of a prolonged study of this subject. He made cultures 

 with different media, introducing such toxic substances as chloride of 

 mercury, acetate of potash, etc. Tests were confined to the germination 

 of the spores, and the results obtained are described and tabulated. 



Some Diseases of Cultivated Plants. J — Arsene Puttemans is study- 

 ing plant diseases in Brazil, and he records the occurrence of three, all 

 of them leaf -parasites, of which two are new to science. Oidium Begonise 

 sp. n. was found on Begonia rex and also on other species. It attacks 

 both leaves and petioles, and very soon causes their destruction. 



The cauliflower {Brassica oleracea lotrgtis) is much cultivated for 

 the Rio de Janeiro market. The plants have suffered considerably from 

 the fungus, Alternaria Brassicae, which causes blackish spots on leaves 

 and flowers. 



The leaves of GhrymnViemum indkmn were found in a bad condition 

 owing to the ravages of a minute fungus Oercospora Chrysanthemi sp. n. 

 Large diseased spots appear on the leaf of a grey colour, generally to- 

 wards the tip of the leaf. Remedies are suggested for these different 

 diseases. 



Diseases of Plants. § —Shepherd's Purse and other cruciferous plants 

 are liable to attacks of Gystopus candidus. E. Noffray has siiown that 

 Lepidium latifollum is even more liable to the disease, and thus more 

 dangerous as a source of infection for cultivated crucifers. He recom- 

 mends the extermination of the plants. 



Emile Mer |! has published biological notes on the parasitism of 

 Lophodermlum macrosporum on the leaves of silver fir. He found that 

 (1) the activity of growth of the parasite is closely bound up with the 

 food it finds in the host-leaf, and (2) the power of resistance is enhanced 



* Inaug. Diss. Breslau : W. G. Korn (1912) 81 pp. See also Bot. Centralbl., 

 cxxii. (1913) pp. 63-4. 



+ Ann. Sci. Nat.,ser. 9, xvi. (1912) pp. 277-336. 



X Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belg., xlviii. (1912) pp. 235-47 (3 figs.). 



§ Journ. Agric. Prat., ii. (1912) pp. 147-8. See also Bull. Bur. Agric. Intell. 

 Rome, iii. (1912) p. 2306. 



Rev. Eaux et Forets, 11. (1912) pp. 381-93. See also Bull. Bur. Agric. Intell. 

 Rome, iii. (1912) pp. 2306-8. 



