
APRIL 21, 1923]. 
NATURE 
Ba 

Societies and Academies. 
Lonpon. 
British Mycological Society, March 17.—A. S. 
Horne and H. S. Williamson: The morphological 
and physiological characteristics of two new species 
of Eidamia were described and compared with those 
of E. acremonioides, the only species previously 
included in the genus. One species obtained from 
oak wood is strongly acidophile and causes coloration 
of the wood; the other, isolated from decaying 
apples, is capable of causing rot in Bramley’s seedling 
apple when kept under ordinary storage conditions 
or at a constant temperature of 1° C.—M. H. Carréand 
A. S. Horne: Various fungi were grown in soluble 
pectin of a high degree of purity extracted from 
apples. Certain fungi utilise the pectin with pro- 
duction of acidity (Botrytis, Diplodia cacaoicola), 
others break it down completely with the production 
of sugar (Eidamia from apple), while some are 
apparently incapable of growth in pectin.—A. S. 
Horne and H. M. Judd: The Eidamia from apple 
grown in sugar solutions exhibits different reactions 
according to the sugar used, as evidenced by the 
odour (of coconut oil), liquid coloration, and rate 
of growth (on plates). The reactions appear to 
show a definite relation to the configuration of the 
sugars concerned.—H. S. Williamson: The species 
of Eidamia from oak caused the production of a 
yellow colour in seasoned wood. This colour was 
reproduced when normal oak was inoculated with 
conidia of the fungus, and was found to be partly 
due to the colour of the conidia and partly to a yellow 
_ refractive substance produced in the metabolism of 
the fungus and accumulated in some of the cells 
of the wood.—J. S. Bayliss Elliott and O. P. Stansfield : 
The life history of Polythrincium Trifolii. The 
Hyphomycete stage is followed by a pycnidial stage. 
After the pycnidial stage reaches maturity the 
clover leaves wither. It was found possible to 
obtain further development by placing the leaves 
_ between glass cover-slips placed between ivy leaves 
buried in soil in plant pots in the open. The perfect 
form is not a species of Phyllachora as has usually 
been supposed, but Dothidella——J. Ramsbottom: 
The correspondence between M. J. Berkeley and 
C. E. Broome preserved in the National Herbarium 
covers a period of more than forty years, and gives 
a clear idea of the way in which the collaboration 
_ between the two was carried on. It contains a 
mass of biographical detail, particularly of. Berkeley, 
and gives a much better picture of the ‘‘ Father of 
British Mycology ’’ than do the meagre and mis- 
leading biographies which have so far been published. 
—P. J. Alexander: The dates of appearance and 
habitats of the Mycetozoa of Surrey. No month 
is without a representative, and three-quarters of 
the British species have been recorded for the 
county. 
Association of Economic Biologists, March 23.— 
Prof. E. B. Poulton, president, in the chair.—J. H. 
Priestley: The causal anatomy of the potato tuber. 
The potato haulm is angular with three leafy expan- 
sions rising from the angles ; a primary endodermis 
in the underground stem disappears in the region 
where the leafy angles appear. The circular, un- 
winged stem formation is a result of growth in 
darkness. The formation of the tuber at the end 
of the stolon coincides with the disappearance of 
the endodermis and the 2 reesei of cork in the 
epidermal or subepidermal layer. The increase of 
tissue in the tuber is due to the meristematic activity 
both in the cortex and in the periphery of the pith. 
NO. 2790, VOL. 111] 
Earthing up potatoes may increase the stem area 
from which tuberiferous stolons may arise, and 
adequate moisture in spring with consequent vigorous 
root pressure may favour the formation of stolons ; 
tubers may be expected to arise upon the stolons 
when the evaporation of water from the leaves 
exceeds water supply from the roots.—E. R. Speyer 
and O. Owen: The action of simple aromatic com- 
pounds on the cucumber woodlouse ( Armadillidium 
speyeri, Jackson). Observations were made on the 
effects due to contact, vapour, and mixing with the 
soil at a concentration on M./roo in 250 gm. of soil ; 
p-cresol and p-nitrophenol are less active than the 
corresponding ortho compounds, and both nitro- 
Phenols are less active than phenol. One part 
phenol in 750 parts soil is sufficient to kill all woodlice 
introduced during a period of 20 days, and this time 
corresponds with the disappearance of retardation 
in germination of tomato seeds sown in the same 
soil. Phenol and the cresols were the most active 
compounds tested; naphthalene disappears within 
4 days of mixing with soil; thymol, camphor, 
hydroquinone, and a-naphthol act slowly. 
Royal Microscopical Society (Industrial Applications 
Section), March 28,—Mr. J. Leonard Spicer in the 
chair.—S. R. Wycherley : Microscopy in the examina- 
tion of manufactured paper. Paper is composed of 
disintegrated vegetable fibres, their length, strength, 
and breadth giving colour and durability. Linen 
fibres give the strongest and toughest of papers, 
and in their natural condition are tapered at the ends. 
The fibres have nodes which often burst, and then 
the fibres curl over and the hooks entangle one with 
the other, knitting together. Tested with Herzberg 
solution the result is brown coloration; with zinc 
chloride solution, claret coloration. Cotton fibres, 
the main constituent of high-class writing papers, 
are even and round with a number of twists along 
the whole length. Wood fibres are merely fibres 
of wood crushed or reduced to pulp: chemical 
wood-pulp fibres are always longer and cleaner 
than those of mechanical wood pulp. The fibres 
are distinguished by their bordered pits; they give 
a low-grade paper. LEsparto fibres are long, thin, 
and smooth with a narrow canal, and there is always 
a residue of seed hairs. A microscope will often 
show whether the fibres have been too severely 
treated by the beaters, and also whether a heavy 
proportion of re-pulped paper has been used.— 
J. Strachan: The manufacture of papers for wrapping 
and containing food-stuffs, Legislation is cag i 
specifying the proper wrapping for particular foods. 
Papers for this purpose are classified as follows : 
Food-holders, such as the paper wrapper and the 
paper container; food-carriers, such as the box, 
the carton, and the fibre-board packing-case. The 
paper bag is used both as holder and carrier. The 
most important class of paper is that used in direct 
contact with the food-stuff. The basic paper for 
this should be a pure bleached cellulose, sterilised 
during the process of manufacture. Chemical and 
physical treatment of this base gives a variety of 
papers for specific purposes, such as the exclusion 
of colloids, moisture, and gases, or the retention of 
oily matter and flavours.—H. B. Wrighton: Objec- 
tives for metallurgy. The mounts should be of a 
metal which will resist the strongly acid atmosphere 
present in laboratories where analytical work on 
metals is carried out, and the front lenses should 
be —— against damage by accidental contact 
with metallic specimens. Glasses and cements used 
must be of a permanent character, as considerable 
heat is developed by the intense light used in the 
photomicrography of metal specimens. The most 
