926 SrM3rIARY OF CURP.EyT RESEARCHES RELATEKG- TO 



the sporiferous mycelial filaments interlace, forming the glomeruli, in 

 which the spores develope from the centre towards the periphery. 

 The mode of germination of the spores resembles that of Tilletia, of 

 Entyloma, and especially of Urocystis. 



The author considers that the question whether S'jrosporium ought 

 to constitute an independent genus, or whether it ought to be united 

 with Vrocystis, must remain unsettled until more is known about the 

 germination of the spores of tbe other species of the genus. 



New Disease of Birds.* — Dr, Koester describes a new disease 

 which has recently attacked hundreds of birds, chiefly hens and 

 turkeys, in the neighbourhood of Cologne. It manifests itself as a 

 kind of diphtheria, attacking the mucous membrane of the organs of 

 respiration and digestion. In the excreted matter were found im- 

 mense quantities of a micrococcus, grouped in colonies or distributed 

 irregularly. 



Chemical Composition of Moulds, + — X. Sieoer has analyzed 

 moulds grown on different substrata, the nutrient fiuid consisting in 

 the one case of sugar and gelatine, in the other case of sugar and sal- 

 ammoniac ; free phosphoric acid being added in both cases to prevent 

 the development of Schizomycetes. The first contained 20 per cent. 

 sugar and 70 per cent, gelatine ; the latter 4S per cent, sugar and 8 

 per cent, sal-ammoniac. The following were the results : — 



(1) (2) 



Soluble in ether .. .. 18'70 per cent 

 Soluble in alcohol .. .. 6 "87 ,. 



A£h 4-S9 ,, 



Albumen 29 -85 „ 



Cellulose 39-66 „ 



The moulds gro^vn on sugar and gelatine contain therefore a 

 considerably larger amount of ash and of substances soluble in ether, 

 and a much smaller proportion of cellulose than those grown on sugar 



and sal-ammoniac. 



Phenomena of Growth in the Mucorini.l — The erect growth of 

 the fructifying stem of Phycomyces. while the mycelium penetrates 

 the substratum, has been attributed by Sachs to their different relations 

 to the moisture of the air ; by Yan Tieghem, to a property which he 

 calls " somatotropism,"' or the influence of the mass of the substratum. 

 In order to determine this question Wortmann tuok spores of Phy- 

 comyces nitens, placing them on a piece of bread on a plate and 

 moistening them ; a bell-glass was now placed over the whole, and 

 covered with a cylinder of blackened pasteboard. In three or four 

 days fertile branches had appeared 1-2 cm. in height : one of these 

 was made to grow through a minute opening in the centre of a glass 

 plate, and a piece of pasteboard saturated with water placed near it. 

 After only a few hours it was obvious that the fertile branch bad 



* Yerhandl. naturh.Ter. preuas. Eheinlande u. Westf., xxxrii. (ISSO) pp. 8-9. 

 See Bot. Centralbl., viL (1881) p. 85. 



t Joum. prakt. Chem.. xxiLL (1881) p. 412. 

 : Bot. Ztg., xxxix. (1881) pp. 368-74, 383-7. 



