482 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K. 
each there was a mass of recently ingested material, consisting of a large starch mass 
with a shell of chloroplast material in normal condition, showing no change of colouring 
or other signs of digestion. It was evident that these were starch masses with which 
the chloroplasts of the Mougeotia gametes were loaded. When the pseudopodia had 
attained a length of about one-fourth the diameter of the animal the rejectamenta 
were discharged and the pseudopodia withdrawn. Vacuoles could be seen in the 
clear protoplasm of the pseudopodia. The whole process is quite distinct from the 
ejection of ‘ waste,’ meaning the feces properly meant. 
AFTERNOON. ‘ 
Prof. A. C. Sewarp, F.R.S.—Some Aspects of the Bearing of Paleobotancal 
Evidence on the Evolution of the Plant World. (Semi-popular Lecture 
in the rooms of the Linnean Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly.) 
Friday, September 25. 
Dr. E. P. Puriures and Mr. R. A. Dver.—The Genus Sutherlandia R.Br. — 
The name Sutherlandia was first applied by Gmelin to a member of the family 
Sterculiaceae, but was later sunk under Heritiera Dryand. There is thus justification 
for the retention of the name Sutherlandia R.Br. The genus was regarded by E. 
Meyer and Harvey as monotypic, but on examination of a large series of specimens 
and taking into account the geographical distribution, six species are now recognised 
from South Africa. : 
Dr. E. P. Putiurpes.—A Conception of a Modern Herbarium. 
Prof. N. J. G. Smrra.—Comparisons emerging from a Study of the Genus 
Helminthosporium in Britain and South Africa. 
| ge Yt + ier et el ee enn eye 
The following species parasitising S. African cultivated crops are mentioned— 
avene, gramineum, teres, sativum. That order of writing the four names places the 
rarest first, and the most malignant last. That order, which holds true for S. Africa, — 
by no means holds true for Britain. This is partly explained by the effect of different 
temperatures on the growth-rate of the fungi. ; 
Some of the important cereal parasites can attack wild grasses, e.g. H. sativum — 
is found on an English Festuca and a 8. African Urochloa.. Rather numerous fungi 
of this genus, belonging to species different from those which attack cereals, are 
found on wild grasses in the two countries. 
Prof. Dame HELEN GwyNNE-VAUGHAN, G.B.E., and Mrs. H. 8. W1iLiam- © 
son.—Sex in Ascobolus magnificus. z 
Spores of Ascobolus magnificus, one of the few members of the Diascomycetes — 
with male and female organs, were received from Dr. B. O. Dodge, of New York. The 
fungus grows well in single-spore culture, but few sexual branches are produced, — 
and these soon die. | Mycelia appear to be of two kinds, each capable of bearing both — 
male and female organs ; when they are brought into contact the sexual branches are ~ 
numerous, and abundant fruits develop. The sexual branches are at first very similar, 
each ending in an elongated cell rich in contents. Their tips make contact and — 
become firmly attached, so that the growth of the female branch causes it to twist 
once or twice round the male. The twisted portion develops six or seven septa and 
constitutes the trichogyne. Below it the oogonium enlarges, the nuclei divide and — 
move to the periphery. Meantime the wall between the antheridium and trichogyne — 
has disappeared and the male nuclei pass into the latter. They are readily distin- 
guished by their large size and elongated nuclei, and can be traced from cell to cell 
till they reach and enter the oogonium. After fertilisation ascogenous hyphe grow 
out and asci are formed, The haploid number of chromosomes appears to be four. — 
4 
a 
