672 RECORD OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



and frequently coalesce with one another. Ultimately the ends of 

 the branches present the ajipearance of having been burnt ; the 

 berries shrivel up or drop. The spores are produced in great 

 abundance, and are colourless, transparent, and oblong in shape. 

 They germinate very freely in water. 



Prillieux adopts for this fungus Saccardo's name Gloeosporium 

 ampelophagnm. He is inclined to think that it is not identical with 

 the fungus which produces the well-known " black rot " of the 

 American vines, Phoma uvicola, and that it is probably not due to 

 American importation. 



In commenting on the above observation,* M. Cornu disputes 

 Prillieux's statement that the disease has been known both in 

 Germany and France for a long period, even a century. He is 

 disposed to identify it with the American " black rot," and to 

 consider that it has been introduced into Europe with American 

 stocks. 



M. Prillieux, in a subsequent communication,! gives further 

 reasons for doubting the identity of the anthracnose with the 

 American " black rot." 



Urocystis Cepulse.J — M. Cornu has made some further observa- 

 tions on the fungus which causes the disease so destructive to the 

 onion crop in America, in addition to those already recorded.§ In 

 reference to Dr. M. C. Cooke's identification of the sj^ecies with U. 

 Colchici, he points out that a number of instances are known in which 

 the same host-species is attacked by two or more species of fungus 

 all belonging to the Ustilagineae. M. Cornu finds that the parasite 

 cannot attack the tissue of the host when the plant has attained to 

 any considerable size ; but that it would be in danger of spreading 

 with alarming rapidity by attacking very young seedlings if the 

 crop were grown year after year on the same soil. This he believes 

 to be the reason why it has been so destructive in America, and has 

 not yet attained any great dimensions in Europe. The safety of the 

 croj) depends on the transplantation of the seedlings, and the destruc- 

 tion of all that appear weakly or sickly. 



Sterigmatocystis and Nematogonum.H — M. G. Bainier gives a 

 detailed account of the structure of these two genera of fungi. Of 

 Sterigmatocystis he describes seven comparatively large species, in 

 which the sterigmata are very much shorter than the basidia, including 

 one new one, S. carbonaria ; and five minute species in which the 

 sterigmata are equal to or larger than the basidia. All these were 

 found on various di'ugs. The description of Nematogonum aurantiacum 

 is taken from specimens found on the clippings of a shoemaker's 

 shop. 



Mycotheca Marchica. — Under this title, Zo^jf and Sydow are 

 publishing a myco-flora of the province Brandenburg in Prussia, the 



* ' Bull. Soc. Bot. France,' xxvi. (1879) p. 319. 

 t Ibid., xxvii. (1880) p. 34. J Ibid., p. 39. 



§ See this Journul, ii. (1879) p. 921, and ante, p. 307. 

 II 'Bull. Soc. Bot. France,' xxvii. (1880) p. 27. 



