ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 783 



Fungi. 



Supposed Absorption and Disengagement of Nitrogen by Fungi.* 

 — G. Bonnier and L. Mangin detail a series of experiments by which 

 they claim to have proved that the statement that fungi both absorb 

 and give off nitrogen while in a state of vegetative activity is founded 

 on error. The process of respiration consists solely in a disengage- 

 ment of carbon dioxide. 



Fungus parasitic on Drosophila.t — The Eev. J. L. Zabriskie 

 describes Appendicular la entomophila Peck, a new fungus parasitic on 

 the fly DrosopTiila nigricornis Loew. It is closely related to the 

 Sphseronemei of the Coniomycetes. Like Sphceronema, the fruit has 

 a bulbous conceptacle, surmounted by a long beak perforated at the 

 apex, where the sjiores ooze out in a globule ; but, unlike any de- 

 scribed Sphceronejna, this has the conceptacle seated upon the broad 

 summit of a pedicle as long as the conceptacle itself; and also on one 

 side of the summit of the pedicle and at the base of the conceptacle, 

 it has an erect, leaf-like appendage, with strongly serrate margins, 

 like a white-elm leaf folded along its midrib. The pores are slender, 

 pointed at each end, and divided by a septum into two unequal 

 cells, one cell being twice as long as the other. The total length 

 of the fruit is from '02 to • 03 in., and that of the spores from • 001 

 to '002 in. The conceptacles of the fungus project directly from 

 different points of the surface of the fly ; so that they are found in 

 all positions — erect, horizontal, and dependent. They grow some- 

 times singly, but oftener in clusters of two, three, or more, and are 

 found most frequently on the tibiae of the hind legs, but also springing 

 from the inner posterior surfaces of the abdominal rings, from the 

 costal vein of the wing, from the head, and from the thorax. One 

 fly had about fifty of these conceptacles on various parts of the body 

 and limbs. 



Peronosporese.I — M. Cornu gives (1) a monograph of the parasite 

 of the lettuce, Peronospora gangliiformis, (2) an important memoir on 

 the Peronospora of the vine. In both memoirs the best modes of 

 treatment are discussed for checking or warding off the disease. 



Vine-mildew.§ — E. Prillieux has observed on Peronospora viticola 

 reproductive bodies of a peculiar kind which he regards as probably 

 intermediate between the ordinary conidia and oogonia. They appear 

 in the same position as the conidia, emerging from the stomata of the 

 leaf, and consist of short filaments terminating in pear-shaped bodies 

 considerably larger than the ordinary conidia and separated from the 

 pedicel by a septum. Their germination has not been observed. 



The author is of opinion that the ordinary " rot " or " grey rot " 

 of the American vines is produced by Peronospora viticola, and not by 



* Bull. Soc. Bot. Franco, xxxi. (1884) pp. 19-22. 

 t Science, iv. (1884) p. 25. 



X Cornu, M., ' (JljHtrviitions sur le Phylloxera ct nur los parasitaires de la 

 vigne.' See Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xxx. (1883) pp. 30-8. 

 § Bull. Moc. Bot. France, xxx. (1883) pp. 19-24, 228-'J. 



