778 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCKES RELATING TO 



annosiis, and P. sulpliurciis, Europe, antl Buhjminm sp., Jamaica. The 

 luminosity of the following species, all from Europe, rests on more 

 doubtful observations: — Agaricus fascicttlaris, Corticium coeruleum and 

 lacteum, and Cladusporium umhrimim. To these must be added the 

 structures known as Bhizomorplia, probably the mycelium of other fungi. 

 The author believes that the seat of the phosphorescence is always the 

 mycelium, and that when the case appears to be otherwise, it is due to 

 a mycelium parasitic on the fungus, and imparting to the latter its 

 luminosity. 



Conidiferous Form of Polyporus biennis.* — M. Boudier has met 

 with a curious form of Polyporus biennis Bull., which may be specified 

 under the name of PUjclwgaster alveolatus. It was composed of two oblong 

 club-shaped bodies, of from 2^ to 3 cm. in height and 1 cm. in breadth ; 

 the pedicels were united in a common stipe some mm. from the base. 

 These club-shaped bodies were of a reddish-white colour, and were 

 tomentose on the surface, which was covered with a slightly prominent 

 network composed of roundish angular or labyrinthiform pores. 



Classification of Basidiomycetes.t — In the last-published part of his 

 ' Mycological Observations ' Herr 0. Brefeld proposes the primary clas- 

 sification of the Basidiomycetes into two groups, Protobasidiomycetes 

 and AuTOBASiDiOMTCETES. In the former the basidia are septated and 

 pluricellular, each cell producing one spore ; in the latter the basidia 

 are unicellular, usually giving birth to two or four spores. 



The Protobasidiomycetes are again divided into three families, 

 Pilacrese, Auriculariese, and Tremellinese, distinguished by the internal 

 or external position of the basidia and the mode of their septation. In 

 the PilacreHe the basidium is septated transversely, and is composed of 

 four superposed cells, and the fructification is angiocarpous, an envelope 

 being formed roimd the basidial apparatus, which must perish in order to 

 set the spores free. In the Auricularieaj the basidium is also septated 

 transversely, but the fructification is gymnocarpous. The TremellinefB 

 have their basidia septated longitudinally, the primitive mother-cell 

 being divided into four by two septa at right angles to one another ; 

 each of the four cells is a long sterigma terminated by a spore. 



The Autobasidiomycetes are divided into the following ten families, 

 according to the degree of protection of the fructification : — 



f Dacryomycetes. 

 Gymnocarpi < Clavarieae. 



( ThelephoreJB. 



ITulostomeas (Lycoperdacese). 

 HymenogastresD. 

 Nidulariefe. 

 Phalloidese. 

 Hydnese. 

 Hemi-angiocarpi I Agaricinese. 



Polyporese. 



Comparing this with the ordinary classification, the group usually 

 designated Hymenomycetes includes the last two families of Brefeld's 



* Soc. Bot. et Mycol. de France, Session Cryptoganiique, 1887 (1888) pp. 55-8. 

 t ' Unters. aus' d. Gesammtgeb. d. Mykologie,' Heft vii., 178 pp. and 11 pis., 

 Leipzig, 1888. See Morot's Journ. de Bot., ii. (1888) Rev. Bibl., p. 69. 



