245 



THE BRITISH UREDINEAE AND 

 USTILAGINEiE. 



A Monograph of the British Uredineae and Ustilagineae. By C. B. 

 PLOWRIGHT, F.L.S. 8 plates. Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. 1889. 



Students of British Mycology have cause to be grateful to the 

 author of this valuable work for the service he has rendered by 

 bringing up to date the state of knowledge concerning these two 

 groups of parasitic fungi. A much-needed want has been supplied, and 

 no one in this country was more qualified for such an undertaking 

 than Mr. Plowright, who for the past seven years has specially 

 devoted himself to studying the morphology and physiology of these 

 plants. During that period of time we are told in the preface that 

 he has made between nine hundred and a thousand experimental 

 cultures, with the object of confirming or otherwise the statements 

 made by various botanists, as well as to work out the life-history of 

 those species of which little was known. As a result of his investi- 

 gations, many new and important facts have been brought to light, 

 and a wide field has been opened for further research by the botanist 

 and microscopist. Of all fungi the Uredineae are perhaps the most 

 popular, every one possessing a microscope being more or less 

 familiar with some of these pretty objects known as ' cluster-cups,' or 

 the 'rusts' or 'brands' which are commonly to be met with during 

 the spring and summer months on the leaves and stalks of various 

 plants. At one time each spore-form was regarded as a separate 

 species, but through the researches of Tulasne, De Bary, and other 

 continental botanists within the past thirty years, it has been proved 

 that many species so called are but stages in the life-history of other 

 species. Mr. Plowright has followed in the lines of these botanists, 

 and has confirmed many of their observations, having also added 

 no small share to the general stock of knowledge. This mono- 

 graph is the outcome of his labour, and he is to be congratulated 

 on producing a work that the student cannot really do without. 

 It has been found necessary to re-classify the Uredineae, and we believe 

 that the system adopted, which is that of the late Dr. Winter, will 

 meet with the approval of all working mycologists. The classifica- 

 tion and description of species occupies 153 pages, and it is not 

 difficult to see what an amount of work there remains to be done, 

 especially with those species affecting the Composite and Umbelli- 

 ferae. Preceding the classification are seven chapters dealing respec- 

 tively with the 'Biology of the Uredineae,' 'Mycelium of the Uredineae,' 

 ' Spermogonia and the so-called Spermatia,' ' .-Ecidiospores,' ' Uredo- 

 spores,' ' Teleutospores,' and ' Hetercecism.' Each of these is 

 creditably done, and may be read with profit by the general reader 



