280 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



reality complex bodies resulting from a union of the wall of the spore with 

 the wall of the mother-cell ; and this may probably be the case with the 

 Basidiomycetes. In Peziza cupressina the ascospores are formed in this 

 way, and not by free-cell-formation ; the ascus with its spores forms a neck- 

 lace-like kind of structure which ultimately breaks up into joints. The 

 same is the case with the chlamydospores of the Mucorini and in Mijcoderma 

 vim. The two types of spore, free and united in growth to the wall of the 

 mother-cell, may even be found in the same individual ; as in Sporochisma 

 paradoxum, the former in the lower, the latter in the upper part of a filament. 



In PtycJwgasfer alhus and Polyporus sulfureus we find terminal spores 

 which are apparently acrogenous, but really endogenous ; while those of 

 the sporangioles of Chsetodadivm and PiptocepTialis are truly endogenous. 

 In the formation of the conidia of Aspergillus candidus the protoplasm may 

 be seen to accumulate at several points of the filament, and each spore 

 clothes itself with a membrane intimately fused with that of the mother- 

 cell ; the spores finally presenting the appearance of a necklace. The same 

 is the case in Penicillium glcmcum. In Psilonia cuneiformis the spores are 

 of endogenous origin, and the filament continues to grow after they have 

 fallen to the ground. 



Formation of Starch in Sclerotia.* — M. E. Belzung has investigated 

 the mode of formation of the starch in the sclerotia of Claviceps purpurea 

 and Coprinus stercorarius, and finds that it is different from that which 

 takes jilace in the endosperm of the castor-oil plant, where there is no fresh 

 formation of leucites during germination, the starch being produced entirely 

 in the pre-existing leucites. Fungi, on the contrary, are capable of pro- 

 ducing true starch-grains. In the sclerotia named, the cell-contents consist 

 entirely of leucites in the form of a very fine granulation ; and it is in 

 these leucites that the abundant starch is formed. 



Helicobasidium and Exobasidium.j — From further examination of the 

 mature fructification of Helicobasidium purpureum, parasitic on Asarum 

 europseum, M. N. Patouillard. maintains his view that the genus must be 

 kept distinct from Exohasidium. He also dissents from the proposal to 

 place its species as a subgenus of Corticium. 



Conidial Form of Hymenomycetes.J — M. N. Patouillard describes a 

 new fungus to which he gives the name Ptychogaster aurantiacus, the inner 

 portion of which is composed of hyphfe mingled with large spores, 

 12-14 [x by 5-6 /x, the medium portion having, on the contrary, spores 

 formed at the extremities of the filaments. The spores are formed 

 by the filament swelling at its apex, where the protoplasm accumulates, and 

 becomes separated by a septum. It is probably the conidial state of a 

 Pol^'porea allied to Trametes. 



Maerophoma, a new genus of Sph8eropside8e.§ — Under the name 

 Macrophoma Berl. and Vogl, Sig. A. N. Berlese proposes a new genus 

 containing no fewer than 99 species removed from the genera Phoma, 

 Splideropsis, and Sphseronema. The following are its characters: — Perithecia 

 subcutanea, dein erumpentia membranacea subcoriacea et subcarbonacea 

 globosa glabra erostrata, ostiolo minuto subinde obsolete. Sporulae ovoideae 

 fusoidese v. cylindraceae majusculse v. magna), 15 amplius yu, longse saepe 

 granuloses continuse hyalinae, rarissime biguttatiB. Basidia filifonnia 

 subinde brevissima v. obsoleta, constanter simj)licia. 



* Bull. Soc. Bot. France, viii. (1886) pp. 198-202. 



t Ibid,, pp. 3:35-7. Cf. this Journal, 1885, p. 1015. 



t Rev. Mycol., 1885, p. 28 (3 figs.). 



§ Atti Soc. Ven.-Trent. Sci. Nat, x. (1886) pp. 17G-205 (2 pis.). 



