76 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JANUARY 
IN A COMMUNICATION to the Royal Society December 1, Scorr?° described a 
w type of strobilus belonging to the Sphenophyllales. The close affinity to 
Sa Meca taal is shown by the anatomy of the axis, which has the solid triarch 
wood characteristic of that genus, and by the fact that the whorled sporophylls are 
are tale, forming a system of protective bracts, while the ventral lobes alone 
bear the sporangia; in the new cone, dorsal and ventral lobes are alike fertile, and 
no sterile bracts are differentiated. Each lobe of the sporophyll divided palmately 
into several segments, the sporangiophores, each of which consisted of a slender 
pedicel, terminating in a large peltate lamina, on which two pendulous sporangia 
were borne. The wall of the sporangium has a rather complex structure, the most 
interesting feature in which is the well-defined small-celled stomium, marking the 
line of longitudinal dehiscence. The spores, so far as observed, are all of one 
kind; they are ellipsoidal in form, with longitudinal crests or ridges; their dimen- 
sions are 90-96 in length by 65-710 in width.—J. M. C. 
THE comMMON Ithyphallus im pudicus, generally considered to be a saprophyte 
only, has been found to be the cause of a destructive root rot of the vine in Hun- 
gary. According to the account given by IstvANFF1** the subterranean part of 
the stem is entwined by a network of the characteristic cord-like strands of myce- 
lium of this fungus. From these, branches are sent into the interior of the stem. 
Small roots are totally destroyed by strands which penetrate them lengthwise, 
destroying all the tissues and leaving only the thin decaying cortex. In the 
older roots the cortex and phloem are totally destroyed, leaving only a mass of 
débris. The wood cylinder is last attacked, but this also is finally destroyed, 
leaving only scattered remnants of the vessels. Destruction of the immature 
fruit-bodies and watering the sai roots with fungicides is recommended as 
a means of prevention. 
The same paper also contains an account of a mite, Coepophagus cchrnepes, 
which lives within and destroys the tissues of the roots of the vine. Not infre- 
quently vines are attacked by both pests at the same time —H. HAsSELBRING. 
SVEDELIUS”? has published an account of Enalus acoroides, one of the marine 
Hydrocharitaceae growing on the coast of Ceylon; the subtitle being “A contri- 
bution to the ecology of the hydrophilous plants.” The pollen grains are very 
large (about 170 in diameter) and heavier than sea water, owing to the presence 
20 Scott, D. H., On the structure and affinities of fossil plants from the Paleozoic 
rocks.—V. On a new type of sphenophyllaceous cone (Sphenophyllum jertile) from 
the Lower Coal-measures. » oo December 1, 1904. 
2 IstvANFFI, Gy DE, Deux nouveaux ravageurs de la vigne en Hongrie (I’Ithy- 
phallus impudicus et le Site O echinopus). Ann. Inst. Cent. Ampélologique 
Roy. can 3: — pls. I~}. figs. T§. 1904. 
VEDELIvS, N., On the life history of Enalus acoreides. Ann. Bot. Gard. 
beckons mesg pl. 24. 1904. 
