ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 83 



Parasitic Fungi.* — M. Cornu notices the occurrence of two para- 

 sitic fungi on hosts not previously observed, Cylindrospora nivea on 

 Veronica arvensis, and a uredo, probably belonging to the cycle of 

 generation of JEcidiuin nitons, on an unnamed American Buhus. 



Ear-Fungi. f — Fr. Betzold has detected the following species of 

 Hyphomycetes as accompaniments of diseases of the ear, viz. Asper- 

 gillus nigricans, flavescens, and fumigatua, and Trichothecium roseum. 

 He does not regard these fungi as saprophytes, but as the actual cause 

 of inflammation. 



Insect-destroying Cryptogam4 — J. Lichtenstein calls attention 

 to a very curious case of parasitism, namely, the presence in the hot- 

 houses of the Jardin des Plantes, at Montpellier, of an " insecticide 

 cryptogam " (a Botrytis), which killed all the aphides on a 

 Cinera^'ia. 



The action of the parasite would appear to cease in the open air, 

 at least the author was unable to inoculate with it either the 

 Phylloxera or an Aphis [Chaitophorus aceris). Perhaps, the author 

 speculates, direct inoculation is impracticable, and there may exist an 

 intermediate stage on other creatures, as in Entomophthora and other 

 Cryptogams. 



Brefeld's Schimmelpilze.§— The fourth part of 0. Brefeld's general 

 work on mycology treats of the moulds or Schimmelpilze, and is 

 introduced by some general remarks on the cultivation of microscopic 

 fungi. He especially recommends the use of Geissler's modification 

 of Eecklinghausen's chamber, which has special advantages for the 

 culture of single specimens. 



The life-history of Bacillus suhtilis is described in detail, followed 

 by that of Chcetocladium Fresenianum., parasitic upon Mucor and 

 Bhizopus, but which will readily grow in nutrient fluids, and can 

 easily be made to produce zygospores. Two new species of 

 Thamnidium, and one of Mucor, are also described. He regards as 

 the ancestor of the Zygomycetes a form with one kind of sporangium, 

 from which sprang the Thamnidiese with sporangia and sporangioles. 

 Thence were derived various branches : — by the reversion of the 

 sporangioles to forms with single conidia ; by the separation of the 

 sporangioles and conidia to separate receptacles, to the Choanephorese ; 

 by the abortion of the sporangia to the CheetocladiacesB. 



Under the head of Piloholus, a sj)ecial description is given of 

 P. anomalus, in which large portions of the mycelium, divided off by 

 septa, produce each a receptacle ; a division in the young sporangium 

 after the formation of the columella leads to the production of the 

 sporiferous portion and the swelling-layer, which, after first becoming 

 dry, then absorbs water, swells up, and separates the sporangium from 

 the pedicel. The author has, in this species, observed germinating 



* Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xxviii. (1881) pp. 143-6. 

 t ' Znr Aetiologie der Infectionskrankheiteu,' 1880, pp. 95-109. 

 X Comptes Eendus, xciii. (1881). 



§ Brefeld, O., ' Unters. aus dem Gesammtgebiet der Mykologie. Heft 4. 

 Bot. Unters. iiber Schimmelpilze.' 191 pp. (10 pis.), Leipzig, 1881. 



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