492 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



a Cladojihora, with a fuugus parasitic upon it. For this fungus he 

 retains Harvey's generic name for the entire organism, calling it 

 Blodjettia Bornetii, and thus summarizes the characters of genus and 

 species : — 



Blodfjettia gen. nov. Conidia scarcely cylindrical, moniliform, 

 borne on short jicduncles ; hypha3 at first free, then occasionally 

 inosculating, only the older portions giving origin to conidia. B, 

 Bornetii sp. nov. Conidia two to five in number, the central ones 

 larger than those at base or apex of the string, of a dark brown or 

 brownish-red tinge. Dr. Wright does not attempt to assign any 

 systematic position to the fungus, 



"Leaf-brown" of the Bean.* — According to von Thiimen, this 

 disease is caused by a i:)arasitic fungus, Isariopsis griseola Sacc , 

 which forms small isolated specks on the under side of the leaves of 

 Phaseolus vulgaris and nanus, of an ashen-grey colour, and usually 

 bounded by the veins, corresponding to brownish-gre^' ill-defined 

 specks on the upper side. The mycelium is found only beneath 

 these specks. Artificial infection can be very readily brought 

 about. The parasite appears to be spreading from Italy northwards. 



Chrysomyxa pyrolata.t — G. Winter confirms Dr. Eostrup's 

 discovery | of a Chrysomyxa parasitic upon Pyrola, and identifies it 

 with Uredo pirolata parasitic upon the same host, but quite distinct 

 from U. pyrolce, which is the conidial form of a Melampsora rather 

 than of a C(jeoma. The Chrysomyxa appears on the under side of the 

 leaves of the Pyrola, without any formation of sjiecks, in the form of 

 small, dot-like, reddish-yellow, shining spore-layers ; the spores put 

 out jjromycelia with spherical sporidia ; the promycelia are multi- 

 cellular, each cell forms a sterigma with a single sporidium of about 

 7 /x diameter. The tecidio-form of this Chrysomyxa has not yet been 

 recognized. 



Ergot.§ — In an exhaustive treatise on rust and ergot (Claviceps 

 purpurea^. A, Renner treats of the literature of the subject ; a full 

 description of the sclerotium of the Claviceps and of its hosts ; its 

 develoj^ment and the germination of the ascospores ; the formation of 

 the sphacelia and of honeydew ; the formation and germination of 

 the conidia ; and the means for its destruction. The author con- 

 siders the formation of the sclerotium to be j^robably due to a process 

 of fertilization. He enumerates thirty-one sjiecies of grass on which 

 the ergot is parasitic. 



Fungoid Diseases of Animals. II — In an account of the diseases due 

 to fungi which attack animals, 0. Bollinger states that the lowest 

 animals, the Protozoa, appear to be exempt from their attacks. In 



* Oester. Landw. Wocheubl., vi. (1880) p. 312. See Bot. Centralbl., ii. (1881) 

 p. 242. 



t Bot. Centralbl. ii. (1881) p. 2.50. J See this Journal, ante, p. 282. 



§ Kenner, A., ' Der Brand u. das Mutterkorn u.s w. ' (Magyar) (22 pis.), 

 Buda])e,-,t, 1880. 



II Bollinger, O., ' Ueber Pilzkraiikheiten niederer u. hiiherer Thiere, 

 Munohen, 1881. See Bot. Centralbl., ii. (1881) p. 274. 



