610 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



account of the reasons for variation. More especially she devotes 

 attention to the form of the pores, their size, depth, and the microscopic 

 character of the walls. She concludes that pore characters are of great 

 value in limiting species, though of little use in distinguishing genera. 

 Colour, spore characters and cystidia — the latter very rare in Polyporaceae 

 — are also passed in review. Ames gives a leading place to the character 

 of the flesh or the consistence of the fruit-body, on which basis, she 

 holds, the Polyporaceae can be divided into natural groups. 



Germination of Merulius Spores.* — C. Wehmer has recorded the 

 failure of all his attempts to induce the mature spores of dry-rot to 

 germinate, either on wood or on artificial media. He concludes that 

 propagation of Merulius lacrymans must in all or nearly all cases be 

 purely vegetative. 



New Moulds from the Cote d'lvoire.t — Eckley Lechmere has 

 found it possible to cultivate some microfungi obtained from the French 

 Congo, and so to give a complete account of their life-history. P ion- 

 notes viridis sp.n. found in woods was grown from the spore, and produced 

 dilTerent kinds of chlamydospores in addition to the terminal conidia. 



Feristomiimi desmosporum g. et sp. n. has been placed by the author 

 near to Chaetomium. It forms superficial perithecia with a thin mem- 

 brane, and apical ostiole with asci which are borne on branching fila- 

 ments, and very thin membranes disappearing at maturity ; there are 

 no paraphyses. The brownish-red ascospores become free in the peri- 

 thecium. He distinguishes two varieties of the species. In one oidia 

 are formed on the hyphse, in the other verticillate conidia. When the 

 ascospores germinate one or other of these varieties is produced, accord- 

 ing to the nutritive medium. 



Plant Diseases. — W. C. Sturgis} has described two fungus parasites 

 of Conifers which occurred in great abundance on the leaves, though 

 the damage done seems to be inconsiderable. One of these, Herpotrichia 

 nigra, grew on the leaves and twigs of young trees of Ahies lasiocarpa 

 and Ficea Engelmanni, covering them over with a felted brown mycelium. 

 The mycelium penetrates the internal tissue but it also covers over and 

 smothers the leaves, showing thus the combined ill effects of parasitism 

 and epiphytism. The second fungus, Neopectria Coidteri, was collected 

 on Finns Murrayana. It resembles the previous fungus, but differs in 

 the character of the spores. 



J. J. Taubenhaus§ has described the diseases of the sweet potato 

 that are generally included under the temi Black Rot. One of these, 

 caused by Sphseronema fimhriatum, causes dark-greenish spots, and is 

 confined to tlie cambium layer. It is, however, frequently followed by 

 other fungi, Fusaria or Triclioderma, which destroy the whole tul)er. 

 The disease gives a bitter taste to the potato. Charcoal rot is due to 



* Ber. Deutsch, Bot. Gesell., xxxi.(1913) pp. 311-16. 



t Libraire Scient. Paris : A. Hermann et Fils (1913) 70 pp. (7 pis. and 23 tigs.). 



X Phytopath., iii. (1913) pp. 143-58 (2 pis.). 



§ Phytopath., iii. (1913) pp. 159-66 (3 pis.). 



