BOOK-XOTES, NEWS, ETC. 255 



abstract : — Three cultures of Funaria hygrometrica were made in 

 Marchals' nutrient fluid as follows : — A. Protonemata grown from 

 the antheridia of a male " flower " ; B. Protonemata grown from the 

 perigonial leaves of the same male " flower " ; C. Spores from a 

 ripened capsule. Submitted to the same cultural conditions, A and 

 J3 produced a sward of plants with large discoid male " flowers " 

 only, no sporogonia being prodviced at any time, C produced plants 

 bearing male and female organs resiilting in a dense crop of sporogonia. 

 It appears possible that vegetative development from structures 

 borne on male and female branches respectively iriay, if a sex- 

 segregation has actually occurred somaticall}', lead to the production 

 of distinct male and female plants. If such is the case, the purity of 

 the gamete in monoicous forms is secured by a somatic segregation in 

 haploid tissue. From other evidence it seems clear that the point at 

 which segregation occurs is not necessarily fixed, but may be shifted 

 backward in the life c^xde until, occuri'ing with sporogenesis, the 

 dioicous habit of the gametophyte is established. In this way the 

 dioicous condition might co-exist with the monoicous, or the monoicous 

 condition might be accompanied by distinct male plants. Vegetative 

 propagation from sex-segregated branches would also lead to the 

 various sex-forms of any one species. 



A STUDY of South African Perisporiales has been publislied by 

 Miss Ethel M. Doidge in Trans. Koy. Soc. S. Africa, v. pt. 6 (1917/; 

 it is of special interest to m^ycologists, appealing, as it does, so soon 

 after the publication of Steven's account of Meliola in Porto Kico : 

 we have thus parallel studies of the group, more especially of the 

 geims named, which should prove of great value. Miss Doidge 

 explains her method of examining these fungi, which inhabit the 

 surface of living leaves and, as partial parasites, do considerable 

 damage, and render the leaves very unsightly. A large number of 

 new species are described and illustrated, and there is a useful host 

 index. — A. L. S. 



The number (vol. vii. no. 3) of the Journal of Genetics issued 

 on J vine 28 contains an unusual proportion of papers of botanical 

 interest. Among these are two relating to British plants — one, 

 " On the Occurrence, Behaviour, and Origin of a Smooth-stemmed 

 Form of Diyitaliii purpurea,^'' by Edith A. Saunders; the otlier "On 

 the Genetics of Teucrium Scorodonia crhpiimr by M. C. Payner, 

 D.Sc. The conclusions as to the Diyitalis show that it " occurs 

 under two distinct forms, the one, commonly accepted as the type, 

 with the stem grey and densely pubescent thi-oughout, and the leaves- 

 very hairy, designated puhescens ; the other, not apparently liitherto 

 distinguished, with the stem green, polished and smooth fi'om the 

 base to the flowering region where it becomes pulescent, and 

 leaves less haiiy, designated nudicaiilis.'''' The two forms, which 

 usually occur together, are similar in every respect except as regards, 

 surface character, and are equally fertile ; both forms, when of pure 

 parentage, breed true; it is suggested that nudicaulis may be the 

 earlier form -dn^ jmbescens the derivative. The form or variety of 

 Teucrium Scorodonia "is of rather more compact habit than the 



