476 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



explored botanically by Jacques Maheu. The low temperature, how- 

 ever, is against them, and the soil is not always favourable. There are 

 three classes of such fungi : (1) those that have been carried into the 

 caves accidentally on detritus, pieces of wood, etc. ; (2) those that are 

 developed from spores and show peculiarities of form ; and (3) those 

 that are completely acclimatised and transmit their acquired characters 

 to their descendants. Monstrosities of form are continually met with, 

 especially among the Hymenomycetes. 



The flora of the different caverns corresponds always with that 

 occurring on the surface of the soil. The Ascomycetes are few and 

 abnormal, often sterile, or only in conidial form. An Isaria and a 

 Laboulbenia were observed on insects. The pore-forming fungi are the 

 most numerous among the Basidiomycetes, and they are almost always 

 deformed or sterile. The author thinks that probably they arise from 

 mycelium or spores coming from the exterior, and that they die out in a 

 few generations. He sums up the deformations thus : lengthening of 

 the stalk, disappearance of colour, reduction and polymorphism of the 

 pileus, variation in the formation of the hymenium, loss of the power to 

 form spores, disappearance of the sporiferous hyphas, and production of 

 conidia. It is not only the darkness, he adds, that causes these 

 abnormalities, but the whole of the conditions of cavern life. 



French Mycological Notes. — An account is given by M. Corfec* of 

 a mycological excursion in the neighbourhood of Laval (Mayenne). 

 He describes the kind of territory that was explored, and gives lists of 

 the species of fungi collected. 



M. Baretj is employed to verify the fungi exposed for sale in the 

 market-place at Nantes. He gives a list of the species used for food, 

 and notes those that were abundant or the reverse during the season. 

 He gives a list of 26 species that were considered edible. 



R. Maire % reports on the various excursions taken by the French 

 Mycological Society in 1905. The members met in Lorraine, and the 

 specimens collected were exhibited at Nancy. An account of the routes 

 taken is given for each day, and a list of the fungi collected in the 

 various localities visited. 



Mycological Notes. — C. G. Lloyd § publishes three double photo- 

 graphic plates of various specimens of BovisteJla, Lycoperdon, Calvatia, 

 Arachnion, and Holocoiylon, with notes on the species illustrated. He 

 gives special descriptions of Arachnion, a specimen of which has recently 

 been sent to him from Italy, the first record for Europe. He also gives 

 a diagnosis of Holocotylon and the species H. Texense. Both these 

 genera are distinguished by a chambered gleba, and by the absence of 

 capillitium. 



W. W. Stockborger || remarks on the somewhat frequent occurrence 

 of Anthurus boreal is in Ohio. He gives a note of the various places 

 where the fungus has been collected. 



* Bull. Soc. Mycol. France, xxii. (1906) pp. 29-31. 



t Tom. cit., pp. 32-3. t Tom. cit., pp. i.~xxxix. 



§ Mycol. Notes Cincinnati, 1906, pp. 245-60 (3 pis. and 10 figs.). 



H Ohio Nat., vi. (1906) p. 517. 



