ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 1029 



in which the ascospores are imbedded, and which is very elastic and 

 capable of swelling. By rapid absorption of water, the inner proto- 

 plasmic sac swells rapidly, bursts the outer membrane of the ascus, 

 and is suddenly ejected. The ascospores and the pycnogonidia can 

 all be made to germinate in nutrient solutions. 



The parasitism of Cucurbitaria possesses the peculiarity of 

 inciting in the wood of the laburnum the formation of new vascular 

 bundles, on the bast side of the old bundles. In nature the infection 

 takes place chiefly in those spots on the branches which have been 

 injured by hailstones. 



On dead branches of Sorbus Aucuparia, the author finds a second 

 species of Cucurbitaria, which he names C. Sorbi. 



Entomophthorese.* — Dr. E. Eidam gives a more detailed descrip- 

 tion of his new genus Basidiobolus f belonging to this class of fungi, 

 and mentions a second species, B. lacertse, found on the excrements 

 of a lizard. 



He takes the opportunity of revising the position of the class, and 

 the diagnoses of its seven genera, JEmpusa, Lamia, Entomophthora, 

 Tarichium, Completoria, Conidiobohis, and Basidiobolus. In opposition 

 to Brefeld, he places the family in the Zygomycetes rather than in 

 the Oomycetes, and in close proximity to the Mucorini, with which it 

 is related through Piptocephalis and Syncephalis. The mode of for- 

 mation of the resting-spores of the EntomophthoreaB shows much 

 greater analogy to that of the zygospores in this family than to that 

 of the oospores in the PeronosporeaB. Basidiobolus differs from the 

 rest of the Entomophthoreae in entire rows of simple mycelial cells 

 being simultaneously transformed into gametes, while in the other 

 genera conjugation takes place only on special hyphal branches. 



Entomogenous Fungus. J — Mr. W. Fawcett describes, under the 

 name of Cordijceps lloijdii, a new species of remarkable fungus grow- 

 ing on an ant (Camponotus atriceps), which appears to have been 

 attached during life ; the capitate stroma grows out between the head 

 and thorax, and a long filament springs from between the thorax and 

 abdomen. 



Melasmia Empetri, a new parasite on Empetrum nigrum.§ — 

 Herr P. Magnus has detected on this plant a fungus-parasite which 

 causes the branches to elongate and to become comparatively bare of 

 leaves. The sterigmata occupy the entire inner surface of the pycnidia ; 

 they are unbranched, and from them are abstricted conidia 12-2-17 p. 

 long and 3" 66-4* 88 p broad, somewhat constricted in the middle. 

 The ascus-form of the fungus probably belongs to the Hysteriacege, but 

 has not yet been detected. 



Parasitic Fungus of the Roots of Orchideae.|| — The "yellow 

 lumps " on the rhizome of Neottia nidus- avis and on the underground 



* Cohn's Beitr. zur Biol, der Pflanzen, iv. (188G) pp. 181-251 (4 pis.). 



t See this Journal, ante, p. 294. 



j Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., xviii. (1886) pp. 316-8. 



§ Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., iv. (1886) pp. 104-7 (3 figs.). 



|| Bot. Ztg, xliv. (18S6) pp. 481-8, 497-505 (1 pi.). 



