^9o8] CURRENT LITERATURE 207 



lore, but the nuclei of the ascogonium were obser\-ed fusing in pairs, a condition 

 also found in Humana. This fusion occurs at various stages in the development 

 of the ascogonium, either when it is very young or \try old, and not at a certain 

 stage in its development, as described for Pyronema. Since Pyronema possesses 

 a functioning trichogv'ne and fertilization occurs by the fusion of sexual nuclei, 

 Miss FfiASER would regard Lachnea st^corea as intermediate between Pyronema 

 and Himiaria, in which no trichogyne is present. A much-branched ascogenous 

 h}-phal system is formed from the ascogonium in the usual fashion, the asci 

 arising from the binucleate subterminal cells. The tw^o nuclei fuse to form the 

 ascus nucleus, which divides by successive divisions to form the nuclei of the 

 eight ascospores.— J. B. Oi-ERXON. 



Polymorphism of Hymenomycetes. — Some interesting results bearing on the 

 polymorphism of the Basidiomycetes were obtained by Lyman ^* in a series of 

 cultures. It is stated that about 75 species belonging to the PoI}^raceae, Hyd- 

 naceae, and Thelephoraceae were grown in pure cultures and that about 40 per 

 cent, of these possess some secondary method of reproduction. In the present 



species 



The 



been foxmd 



ting results were obtained in connection with two Fungi imperjecH: 

 rtocreas B. & C. and Aegerita Candida Pers. Michenem was shown 

 lidial form of Corticiiim suhgiganteum Berk., with which it had often 

 associated. The spores of Aegerita Candida yielded a form of Penio- 

 phora which had not been described, and conseq^uently becomes P. Candida 

 (Pers.) Lyman. Several other forms of Cortidum were foimd to have secondary 

 spore fonns, either conidia, chlamydospores, or bulbils. A peculiar tendency 

 toward a differentiation of the myceKa of these fungi into juvenile and adult forms 

 was noted in most of the species. The most pronounced example illustrating 

 this tendency is Corticlum alutaceum. The basidiospores of this form produce a 

 Diycelium with slender hyphae without clamp connections which bears conidio- 

 pnores; and later the adult mycelium with large hyphae having clamp connections 

 but without condiophores. Continuous cultures of conidia produce more and 

 more persistent juvenile mycelium. The adult mycelium is not entirely sup- 

 pressed, however, if the culture has sufficient nutriment to permit continued growth. 

 The cultures with Lentodium squamulosum are of special interest, for they 

 seem to show that this peculiar and much-discussed fungus is an autonomous 

 plant and not, as many writers have believed, an abnormal form of LetUifms 

 ^grintis. In pure cultures the spores of the fungus give rise to a mycelium which 

 fcially produces fruit-bodies having all tte characters, including the peculiar 

 chambered h}'menophore, of the parent This form produces conidia from tiie 

 veil and from the margin of the young pilem. Careful studies of thfe kind throw 

 i^iuch-needed light on the biology of the higher fungi, whi^e life-histories present 

 ^^^lany obscure points.— H. HLasselbrixg. 



Lyman 



poiirmorphism d Hynieuomvcetes* 



Hi^. 33 : 125-209- pis. 18-26 



