446 SUMMARY OF CTJRIIENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Structure of Ravenelia.* — Mr. G. H. Parker finds Bavenelia glandu- 

 Iseformis abundantly on both sides of the leaves of Tephrosia virginiana, 

 especially the under side. The hyphae form a kind of hymenium in cavities 

 beneath the epidermis, from which the uredospores are separated by 

 abstriction, and escape through a perforation in the epidermis. Then 

 appear the teleutospores, the mass of which fills the entire opening. 

 Uredospores are formed only on the leaves, teleutospores also on the rachis 

 and young parts of the stem. The teleutospores are very large, and con- 

 sist of a stalk, on which is formed the so-called " cyst," and from this the 

 mass of spores as an outer layer, the inner mass of cyst-cells having 

 apparently no function except the dispersion of the spores. The spores 

 are either uni- or bilocular. In B. inclica the spores are unilocular, and 

 each is not borne on its own cyst-cell, but, at the margin, each cyst-cell 

 bears two or three spores. There are two types of teleutospore in the genus, 

 one represented by B. glanclulseformis, the other by B. indica. 



E.hizoctoiiia.t — According to Prof. E. Eostrup, the mycelium of the 

 Bhizoctonia of clover is essentially epiphytic. It is composed of creeping and 

 branching hyphfe, with thickened septa, the thickness of which varies from 

 2-5 fx. On the part of the root which is coloured with this red mycelium 

 numbers of blackish-red warts are to be found, formed of interlacing hyphae 

 which resemble unripe perithecia, without theca3 or spores. TrifuUum 

 hybridum often lives some time after the root has been destroyed by the fungus, 

 putting out from the lower part of the stem numerous adventitious roots ; and 

 in this case the rose-coloured mycelium frequently extends above the soil 

 upon the stem and the lower stipules. The tubercules, which by old 

 writers were noted as one of the characteristics of Bhizoctonia, are few in 

 number in the species parasitic on the clover. As for the warts, which, in 

 the form of dots, cover the roots attacked, they have a diameter of * 1 mm., 

 and are placed very close together. Even under the Microscope they are a 

 deep red. Several times, in the case of hjhridum, the author found, on the 

 attacked roots of the preceding autumn, warts developing pycnidia filled 

 with numerous stylospores ; on the red sclerotic tubercules of the roots of 

 Trifolium and Medicago he also determined the presence of conidia. 

 Perithecia and thecJB he failed to discover. 



Rhopalomyces.^ — M. J. Costantin describes a new species of this genus, 

 Bhopalomyces nigripes, growing on Peziza arenaria. He suggests the re- 

 moval from the genus of all the species, such as B. candidtis, with an 

 uncoloured septated pedicel terminated by a sphere covered with hyaline 

 spores ; these he considers, should be relegated to CEdocephahcm. 



Sphseropsidese, Melanconiese, and Hyphomycetes.§ — The 3rd and 4th 

 vols, of Dr. P. A. Saccardo's ' Sylloge Fungorum ' are occupied by a 

 monograph of these three families. It having been shown that all hypho- 

 mycetous fungi are but stages of development of species belonging to a 

 higher class, the conidial and pycnidial forms of many Pyrenomycetes and 

 Discomycetes are described under the Hyphomycetes and SphaeropsideaB. 



The Sphferopsideae are divided into four forms, viz. (1) SPH^RioiDEiE, 

 with seven sections based on the character of the spores, viz. Hyalosporse, 

 Phseosporee, Phseodidym.de, Hyalodidymse, Phragmosporse, Dictyosporee, and 

 Scolecosporae ; (2) Necteioide^, with two subcohorts, Zythiese, with four 



♦ Proc. Amer. Acad. Sci., xxii. (1886) pp. 205-18 (2 pis.). 



t Overs. K. Danske Vid. Selsk., 1886, pp. 59-76 (2 pis.) and ix.-xiii. (French 

 resume). 



X Bull. Soc. Bot. France, viii. (1886) pp. 489-93. 



§ Saccardo, P. A., ' Sylloge Fungorum,' vols. iii. and iv., 1885, 1886. 



