272 



Professor Harper exhibited a number of fine specimens of 

 Peridermium cerebrum obtained from Pinus at Bedford, Va., in 

 September. They were for the most part of the globoid type 

 found on limbs. Professor Harper called attention to the manner 

 in which the bark of the burl sloughs off after the spores have 

 been shed. The appearance of the cortex at this time of year 

 indicates that the burl has made considerable growth in 

 preparation for next year's crop of spores. 



Dr. E. W. Olive spoke of the interesting parasitic fungus that 

 has been found on the birch trees in the vicinity of the Brooklyn 

 Botanic Garden. Prof. G, M. Reed has been conducting an 

 investigation of this fungus and will make a further report later. 

 Dr. Olive also described briefly another parasite which has re- 

 cently come to his attention. This new fungus appears to have 

 some characteristics of a rust while at the same time possessing 

 features distinctive of the smuts. 



Two rather rare and interesting species of Boletus were exhibited 

 by Dr. M. Levine, who spoke of the work of his students on this 

 group. Boletus suhsangulneus is an especially rare form collected 

 only once or twice since it was originally described. Dr. Levine 

 also exhibited water color illustrations of this species and of 

 B. retipes. 



Mr. Norman Taylor spoke of his experience in burning salt 

 marshes at a time when all of the plants were in a vigorously 

 growing condition. It is unknown what chemical properties of 

 these plants account for their high inflammability. 



Prof. T. E. Hazen reported on his observations of the various 

 kinds of insects that visit certain flowers, especially the lilies 

 and pickerel weeds. Prof. Hazen has made a number of photo- 

 graphs of insects at work on the flowers. He expects to publish 

 a paper on this subject in the near future. 



Dr. H. B. Douglas favored the Club with a highly interesting 

 account of his summer's experiences as an amateur mycologist, 

 in the Maine woods. Mrs. Douglas and he had collected and 

 identified over seventy species of fungi and were able to testify 

 as to the edible qualities of a number of species not heretofore 

 placed on the desirable list. Their experiences in connection 



