^9o8j CURRENT LITERATURE 



211 



Parasitic seed-plants.— Fraysse" has presented an interesting account of 

 the ecological relations of a number of parasites. Especial attention was given to 

 Osyris alba, a green parasite of the Mediterranean region, which grows on many 

 hosts, but particularly on legumes and mycorhizal plants. The seeds germinate 

 with difficulty, and the seedlings can live for nearly a year independently. The 

 compUcated structures of the perennial haustoria are quite fuUy described. The 

 host reacts by forming tyloses and other apparently defensive modifications. 

 Smiilar studies were made of Odantiks rubra serotina, Euphrasia offtcinalis, 

 Lathraea, and Mmoiropa hypopitys. Most botanists regard the last species 

 as a mycorhizal plant, but Filwsse seems to find it parasitic on Pinus. In all 



01 the species studied, attention h paid to the starch and its distribution in and 



around the naU'^fririil • fKlC + 0**/-V. .V Alcr^C'4-r^A U*- AX,^~4-^r^^r. ^i-i^wv+«^ U,r +U.r* V> n . - r-4-^ » » 



and 



portion of the treatise 



characteristics of Cytinus Hypocisiis 



tune, forming 



The penetra- 



tion of this thallus is accomplished by mechanical means in part and in part by 

 the action of diastases.— H. C. Cowles. 



A new hymenomycete. — McAlpinie^^ finds that the fungus described as 

 Isaria jiiciformis in 1872 by Berkeley, from material collected in Australia in 

 1854, is a basidiomycete. The fungus grows principally on grasses, but it also 

 attacks other plants. It consists of an effused somewhat gelatinous layer from 

 which rise Isaria-like tufts of hyphae, bearing conidia. On account of these co- 

 nidia-bearing tufts the fungus was placed in the genus Isaria. McAlpixe finds, 

 however, that the eflFused part of the fungus bears a basidiosporic hymenium, in 



consequence of which he places it in the genus Hypochnus as H. fmiformis (Berk.) 

 McAlp. 



In a note following the foregoing article, vox Hohkel and Sydow^ point 

 out that the name Hypochnus is no longer tenable, since the species included under 

 It belong partly to Corticium and partly to Tomentella. To include species 

 having tufts of hyphae rising above the h}Tiienium, v. Hohnel and Litschaiter 

 have elevated Patouillasd's section Epithele to a genus. In this \'0X Hohnel 

 and Syix>w place McAlpine's fungus as £. jucijormis (Berk.) v. Hohn. et Syd. 



H. Hasselbring. 



Embryo sac of Impatiens.^LoNGO^* has described an interesting haustorial 

 apparatus in connection with Jjnpaliens ampharata. In the growth of the sac 

 the small nucellus is resorbed, the sac coming into contact with the inner integu- 

 ment, whose inner cells function as a tapetum. From the enlarged micropylar 



20 



Fraysse, a., Contribution a la biolcme des plant es phane'rc^ames 



Montpellier. 1906. 

 *^ McAlpls-e, 



Aim. iVrvrnl J - r- . 



1906. 



the so-called Isaria fucifarmfs Beik 



I. 



#:•-» 



^ LoNGO, B., Nuove ricerche suila nutrizione deU' embrione v«^^ale. Reale 

 Accad. Lincei 16: 59 1-594. figs. 2. 1907. 



