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SHORTER NOTES 



A Method of Obtaining Abundant Sporulation in Cul- 

 tures OF Macrosporium solani E. & M. — During the recent 

 exercises held in connection with the dedication of the completed 

 laboratory building and plant houses of the Brooklyn Botanic 

 Garden the writer reported a method by which abundant sporula- 

 tion may be obtained in pure cultures of Macrosporium solani 

 E. & M. Since the full report will not be published for several 

 months, this abstract of the paper is given. 



The method described consists essentially in wounding vigor- 

 ously growing cultures after they are two or three days old. 

 The fungus is grown in Petri dishes on string bean agar or 

 potato agar. After cultures have made a vigorous growth, the 

 mycelium is wounded by scraping the colonies with a sterile 

 scalpel. Although undisturbed cultures produce few or no 

 spores, those properly wounded fruit profusely. The more 

 thoroughly the, wounding is done, the more abundant will be 

 the sporulation in any given culture. Great numbers of conido- 

 phores arise from the cells of the radiating mycelial strands 

 which have been injured by the scalpel. Each conidiophore 

 bears a spore at its tip. Many thousands of spores may be 

 obtained from a single culture which has received the wound 

 stimulus. It is thought that this method may be of interest to 

 those who work with other fungi that do not fruit readily on 

 culture media. 



L. O. KUNKEL 



Lamium amplexicaule in Colorado. — I have today (May 4) 

 collected this species in a vacant lot in Boulder. The genus is 

 new to our Colorado list. 



T. D. A. COCKERELL 



REVIEWS 



Fritsch's The Algral Ancestry of the Higrher Plants.* 



Dr. Fritsch, in his interesting discussion of " The Algal Ancestry 

 of the Higher Plants," gives special attention to trying to corre- 



* Fritsch, F. E. The Algal Ancestry of the Higher Plants. The New Phytolo- 

 gist 15: 233-250./. I, 2. 9 Ja 1917. 



