ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MIOKOSCOPY, ETC. 107 



jugation of Conidioholus is that tlie extremities of tlie conjugating 

 tubes are not first separated by septa before they conjugate. 



A second species, C. minor, is described, also parasitic on 

 Tremellini. 



Cystopus Capparidis.* — E. Pirotta has been successful in ob- 

 taining for the first time the oospores of this fungus, parasitic on the 

 caper-plant, and, from their resemblance in form and structure to 

 those on C candidus, the common parasite on various Crucifer^e, has 

 determined the identity of the two species. 



Fungus of the Root-swellings of Juncus bufonius.t — This fungus, 

 discovered by Magnus in the roots of Juncus hufonius and Gyperus 

 flavescens, and named by him Schinzia cypericola, is described in 

 detail by C. Weber. The swellings caused by it vary in length from 

 3 to 10 mm. ; the cells of the periblem, epidermis, and hypoderma 

 being very much enlarged ; the fungus, however, living only in the 

 hypertrophied cells of the periblem. The hyphee have the ordinary 

 structure of the mycelium of the Ustilaginefe, the spores arising on 

 spirally coiled branches. They are elliptical in form, with an average 

 length of 17 -5-20 -5 /x and breadth of 15-17-5 fx, the wall being 

 from 3-5 /^ thick. The epispore consists of two layers, is covered 

 with warts, and of an intense red or yellow colour. Formed in the 

 summer, they do not germinate till the following February. Three 

 or four germinating filaments then proceed from each spore, which 

 perforate the epidermis of the host in small round openings, remain 

 comparatively short, and act as a promycelium, producing each one 

 sporidium at or near the apex, but never on sterigmata. The further 

 development of these sporidia, which have a spiral form, could not be 

 followed. 



The fungus clearly belongs to the Ustilaginese, differing from the 

 typical forms in the plurality of the promycelia, in their very small 

 diameter in comparison to the large spores, and in the spiral form of 

 the sporidia. Weber regards it as the type of a distinct genus of 

 Ustilagineag, for which he proposes the name Entorrhiza. 



"Pourridie " of the Vine.J — G. Foex and P. Viala assign as the 

 cause of this disease the flocculent growth between the bark and the 

 wood of the root, known as " Ehizomorpha fragilis," the cultivation of 

 which gives the well-known fructification of Dematophora necatrix, 

 which can readily be proved to be a true parasite. The conglomera- 

 tions of hyaline filaments known as " fibrillaria," also formed on the 

 roots of the vine, and which are not known to be connected with any 

 species of fungus, are not truly parasitic, being formed only on tissue 

 already disorganized, and cannot therefore be regarded as the cause 

 of the " pourridie." 



Development of the Sporangium of TricMa.§ — This process has 

 been carefully followed by E. Strasburger in the case of T. fallax. 



* Nuov. Giom. Bot. Ital., xvi. (188i) pp. 362-3. 

 t Bot. Ztg.. xlii. (1884) pp. 369-79 (1 pi.). 

 + Comptes Kendus, xcix. (1884) pp. 1033-5. 

 § Bot. Ztg., xlii, (1884) pp. 305-16, 321-6 (1 pL). 



