298 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



and closely resemble those of a Stilhum. The conidia are spherical 

 or ovoid, colourless or light pink, forming terminal chains; they 

 germinate very readily, the new mycelium producing again conidia 

 after twelve hours. 



Sexual organs are also produced, poUinodia and carpogonia. The 

 former have the form of elongated swollen vesicles, or short pedicels 

 consisting of three or four cells. The carpogonium is a relatively 

 thick branch of the mycelium, rich in protoplasm, attaching itself to 

 the poUinodium, and winding round it in a two- or three-fold spiral. 

 The author could not detect any act of impregnation, and believes 

 that reproduction is apogamic. The pollinodium appears to have no 

 further function; the carpogonium divides into several cells, and 

 developes by branching into a small ball, the rudiment of the re- 

 ceptacle. The enveloping hyphse become differentiated into an outer 

 and inner layer of the perithecium ; the central part becomes the 

 fertile tissue, in which are ultimately developed the asci, each 

 containing eight ascospores, which escape when ripe through an 

 ostiole. 



The arrangement of the asci in the perithecium brings Inzengsea 

 near the Tuberacese, and especially to Elaphomyces, differing from . 

 this genus in the presence of an ostiole. The author regards it as 

 possibly presenting a transition to the Perisporiacete. 



Olive-disease.* — M. E. Prillieux points out that the disease of 

 the olive-trees known as " noir " or " morfee" is frequently of a 

 double character, consisting of a blackish coating, and a honey-dew- 

 like exudation. The former is caused by a Fumago which multiplies 

 very readily by gemmse, every cell being reproductive. The honey- 

 dew-like exudation is the result of the puncture of the leaves by an 

 insect, Chermes olese, which thus inflicts a double injury on the tree, 

 the sweet viscid exudation both fixing the spores of the fungus, and 

 furnishing a nidus in which they increase with great rapidity. 



New Parasitic Fungus.f — Under the name Trichosphseria nigra 

 Prof. E. Hartig describes a newly detected parasite on fir-branches. 

 The mycelium is dark-brown and perennial. Extremely delicate 

 haustoria perforate the thick outer wall of the epidermal cells of the 

 host, the mycelium itself entering the tissue through the stomata. 

 The perithecia appear in large numbers on the surface ; they are 

 large, spherical, and covered with hairs. 



Trametes radiciperda and Polyporus annosus. J — Prof. R. Hartig 

 points out the great difference between these two fungi, which have 

 frequently been confounded. 



Fungus in Human Saliva.§ — In studying the parasitic organisms 

 of the saliva, M. V. Galippe observed, during the process of filtration, 



* Bull, du Ministere d' Agriculture, iv. pp. 239 et seq. See Bull. Soc. Bot. 

 France, xxxii. (1885), Eev. Bibl., p. 121. 



t SB. Bot. Ver. Miinchen, Feb. 11, 1885. See Bot. Ccntralbl., xxiii. (1885) 

 p. 363. 



X SB. Bot. Ver. Munchen, Feb. 11, 1885. See Bot. Contralbl., xxiii. (1885) 

 p. 362. 



§ Jouru. Auat. et Phybiol. (Eobiu), xxi. (1885) pp. 538-53 (1 pL). 



