LRRD 
1903} CURRENT LITERATURE 73 
that the mere change of host (wheat to barberry and back to wheat) may give 
to the rust that variety of life conditions which is generally beneficial to every 
organism, in contrast to monotony of food and environment.— B. M. Davis. 
IKENO*™ has continued his studies on spore formation in Taphrina which 
were first reported in Flora 88:229. I901. He finds essentially the same 
conditions in several species that he described for Zaphrina Johansoni. 
There is always the fusion of two nuclei in the ascus preliminary to spore 
formation. The chromatin material in the fusion nucleus may split up into a 
number of fragments, which become scattered in the cytoplasm by the disso- 
lution of the nuclear membrane and organize very small nuclei. Or, 
division may proceed more regularly through successive halving of the 
chromatin, sometimes accompanied by simple mitotic phenomena. There is 
generally at the end extensive multiplication of the nuclei by fragmentation 
and division of the spores by budding. No asters were discovered to cut 
out the spores as in the higher Ascomycetes, but the cytoplasm seems to 
gather more densely around the nuclei and form the spore wall. There is 
no evidence in the ascus of cleavage by constriction.— B. M. Davis. 
THE LARGE PROPORTION of the seeds of the darnel (Lolium temulen- 
tum) are infected with a fungus which causes the development of a substance 
(lolium) with toxic effects upon man and certain carnivorous animals, but not 
injurious to pigs, cattle, or geese. This interesting parasite has been recently 
studied by Freeman. No spores are known, and the fungus apparently pas- 
ses from one generation of the host to the next with the seed. It does not 
appear to harm the darnel; on the contrary, the infected seeds seem to be 
larger and better developed than those free from the fungus. Infected seeds 
germinate very well. There is, therefore, the possibility of an advantage to 
the host, but this is not positively known. The relationships of the fungus 
have been much discussed, but in default of spore fructifications the conclu- 
Sions are mere speculations. The invasion of the young seedling from the 
coats of the seed and the later appearance on the ovaries is smut-like, but 
there are also points of resemblance to ergot, and especially to an ergot that 
frequently attacks Lolium in England.— B. M. Davis 
A MEMOIR on Todea, of the same admirable character as former works 
of the senior author on ferns possessing at the same time fossil and living 
representatives, is published by Seward and Ford.» The anatomy of the 
mature stem of Zodea barbara, T. superba, and T. hymenophylloides is 
*®IKENO, S., Die Sporenbildung von Taphrina-Arten. Flora 92: 1-31. pls. 7-3. 
1903. 
*7FREEMAN, E. M., The seed-fungus of Lolium temulentum L., the darnel. 
Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London B. 196: 1-27. pls. 1-3. 1903. 
7° SEWARD, A. C., and Forp, SyBILLE O., The anatomy of Todea with notes 
on the sonkical history and affinities of the Osmundaceae. Trans. Linn. Soc. 
London Bot. Il. 6: 237-260. pls. 27-30. 1903. 
