JANUABY 29, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



173 



North American Eiists with Caeoma-liJce Sori: C. 



A. LUDWIG. 



TMs paper takes up a discussion of the eaeoma- 

 like stage in the life history of certain North 

 American rusts. A eaeoma is understood to be a 

 structure in which the spores are catenulate and 

 the sorus is not delimited by peridium, paraphyses, 

 or similar means for preventing true coalescence 

 of sori. The material thus included is divided 

 into five groups represented by the genera Coleo- 

 sporium, Melampsora, Neoravenelia, Gymnoconia 

 and Eriosporangium (in part). An attempt is 

 made to arrange the species of Coleosporium 

 chiefly according to their morphological charac- 

 ters with a view to the ultimate combination of 

 some of them, since it seems likely that there are 

 "more species of Coleosporium in the books than 

 in nature. ' ' In the Melampsora group one new 

 combination is made and one new species de- 

 scribed. In the genus Eriosporangium the species 

 E. Syptidis (M. A. Curt.) Arth. is shown to have 

 a distribution limited to the United States instead 

 of extending to the West Indies and Central Amer- 

 ica, as heretofore considered. 

 The Fenicillium Group — Vertieillatae of Wehmer: 



Charles Thom. 



A series of strains of Fenicillium beginning with 

 the aseugerous form of P. luteum and ending 

 with P. purpurogenum are linked into a series by 

 certain common characters. The conidiophore 

 produces a single whorl of fertile branches 

 (metulae). Wehmer uses this character to name 

 a section, Vertieillatae, of the genus. Each 

 branch bears a verticil of sterigmata or conidia- 

 bearing cells, dosely parallel, enlarging from the 

 base upward 5-8 microns, then tapering to form 

 a lanceolate point ending in a conidium-produeing 

 tube, with a total length from 12 to 15 microns. 

 The eonidia in the series are elliptical, or more or 

 less fusiform, rarely approach to globose, smooth 

 or slightly rough, with a majority of spores in 

 each culture, showing a size typical of the strain, 

 while some vary widely enough to approach the 

 range of size found in the group 2 to 3 by 2.5-4 

 microns. In colony character, the surface my- 

 celium shows yellow granules which in some be- 

 come reddish with age and changed reactions. The 

 amount of yellow depends (1) upon the amount 

 of surface growth, hence becomes abundant if the 

 colony is floocose or is very slight in strains with 

 short, separate conidiophores ; (2) in the quantity 

 of green eonidia produced thus P. luteum shows 

 only a trace of green and P. purpurogenum only a 

 trace of yellow. 



The species at the P. luteum end of the series 

 produce orange shades in substrata containing 

 sugars with only partial, or slow, transformation 

 to red. P. purpurogenum and its close allies pro- 

 duce only traces of this orange color, but an 

 abundance of a rich red coloring matter. Cultures 

 will be shown to illustrate these points. 

 Spermatia of the Higher Ascomycetes: B. B. 



HiGGINS. 



While studying the life cycle of some fungous 

 parasites during the last two years, spermatia 

 have been found in some twenty species. In all 

 cases studied they develop late in the fall simul- 

 taneous with the development of young stages of 

 the ascocarp and, in at least eleven species, with 

 carpogonial structures. 



These twenty species are scattered through four 

 orders of the Ascomycetes, viz., Phaoidiales, Peri- 

 sporiales, Vothidiales and Sphaeriales, which indi- 

 cates that spermatia are of quite general occur- 

 rence and may have an important bearing on the 

 classification and relationships of the group. 

 The Fapulospora Question as Belated to Ascoiolus : 



B. 0. Dodge. 



Species of fungi producing so-caUed Urooystis- 

 like spores, papulospores, are found in several 

 widely separated groups. Many of such forms 

 have been connected with hypocreaceous Ascomy- 

 cetes. 



I have found a Fapulospora closely associated 

 with Ascoiolus magnificus either as a parasite or 

 as an asexual spore form of the Ascoholus. If the 

 former is the case the mycelium of the parasite is 

 intrahyphal; if the latter be true, then the phe- 

 nomenon known as " Durehwachsung " is ex- 

 tremely complicated in the mycelium of this 

 Ascoiolus. 



Further recent comparisons of papulospores with 

 those of Vrocystis and their description as inde- 

 pendent Hyphomycetes are quite beside the ques- 

 tion. It is plain , that they are spore bodies 

 either of the perfect stage of the fungus with 

 which they are associated or of a parasite upon 

 that fungus. 

 The Effect of Centrifugal Force on Plants: P. M. 



Andrews. 

 Climatic Distrihution of the Various Types of 



Angiosperm Leaf-Margin and Their Physiolog- 

 ical Significance: I. W. Bailey and E. W. Sin- 



NOTT. 



Foot Hatits of Desert Plants and the Beaotion of 

 Boots to Soil Temperature: W. A. Cannon. 

 There are three well-mar'ked types of roots of 



