1907] CURRENT LITERATURE 235 



has any relation to the luxuriant or to the meager development of the plants; 



so the problem remains unsolved why certain species live exclusively on the salt 



^ beach in contact with salts. If it is solvable, Casu says the clue must doubtless 



t be sought in a profound and accurate study of the histological structure of the 





♦ 



halophyte itself. To us that sounds hopeless. — C. R. B. 



Polymorphism of Hymenomycetes. — Lyiian^*' has made culture studies of 

 certain Hymcnomycetes, giving especial attention to w^oody and incrusting species, 

 the primary object of the research being to obtain further knowledge of polymor- 

 phism in the group. The summarized results contain the following facts. The 

 basidiospores of about 75 species of Polyporaceae, Hydnaceae, and Thelephoraceae 

 were germinated and grown in pure cultures, and about 40 per cent, of them 

 were found to possess some secondary method of reproduction, usually mycelial 

 oidia or chlamydospores. Oidiawere not found among the Thelephoraceae and 

 Hydnaceae, but were produced by one-half of the species of Polyporaceae studied. 

 Chlamydospores have been known in a few agarics and in a considerable number 

 of Polyporaceae, but, aside from certain doubtful cases, were not known among the 

 lower Hymenomycetes. The author found them much more common, especially 

 upon the mycelium, than was known previously; finding them in over one-fourth 

 ^ of the species cultivated. Conidia or other rather highly specialized secondary 



methods of reproduction were found in seven species, all belonging to Thele- 

 phoraceae except Lentodium. The general conclusions are that a considerable 



X 



majority of Hymenomycetes possess no secondary spores; that oidia are common 

 among the Agaricaceae and Polyporaceae, and are confined to these two families; 

 that chlamydospores occasionally occur in connection wath the basidio-fructifica- 

 tion, and are quite widely distributed on the mycelia of all families; and that 

 conidia and other highly specialized secondary methods of reproduction are rare, 

 occurring more frequently in the Thelephoraceae than in the higher families. — 



J. M. C, 



I Precipitin and relationship, — The precipitin reaction discovered by Kraus 



and more fully marked out by TscHiSTOwaxscH and Bordet, and others, has 

 . been used by Magnus and Friedknthal" in an attempt to show experimentally 



+ 



the relationship of plants. The experiments were conducted as follows. Extracts 

 containing albuminous substances were prepared from yeast, Tuber, and Agaricus, 

 by the method used by Buchner in the preparation of zymase solutions from 

 yeast. These extracts were injected into animals, and after 12-14 days serum 

 from the animals was treated with small quantities of the albuminous extracts. 

 The yeast extract gave a precipitate with the serum of the animal that had been 

 treate.d with yeast extract, a slight cbudincss with the serum of Tuber, but ntmc 



I 



1° Lyman, George Richard, Culture studies on polymorphism of Hymenomy- 

 cetes. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 33:125-209. pis. T8-26. 1907. 



" Magnus, W., and Friedknthal, Hans, Ein experimen teller Nachwcis natiir- 

 licher Verwandschaft. Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesells. 24:601-607. 1907. 



