SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



87 



Microscopic Fungi. — When one remembers the 

 number of naturalists' or microscopical societies 

 that exist in Britain, it is a matter for wonder that 

 some systematic work is not done by them. In 

 plant parasites there is a wide field for investi- 

 gation and one which, if taken up seriously by 

 microscopists, would be productive of results of real 

 scientific and utilitarian value. These parasites 

 have been divided into two groups, viz. : the 

 Epiphytal, which includes the fungi, which 

 establish themselves on the green parts of plants 

 and destroy them by a kind of suffocation, and the 

 Endophytal, those which originate within the 

 tissues of their hosts, e.g. the Peronospora or 

 potato-rot. Much valuable work has been done in 

 showing the connection between the minute 

 organisms, or Schizomycetes, and the plant 

 diseases, but very much remains to be done ; and 

 just now. when "wheat rust "and Peronospora 

 are so prevalent, an opportunity is afforded, by a 



Fauna," which appears in the current issue of the 

 "Transactions of the Manchester Microscopical 

 Society," Professor Hickson suggests that the 

 great variety of the patterns of the hooks, tubercles 

 and other protuberances which the shells possess, 

 that enclose the eggs of Hydra, the gemmules of 

 sponges and the statoblasts of Bryozoa, is due to 

 the many ways in which these organisms may 

 become attached to the skin, feathers or scales of 

 the animal chiefly concerned in their transportation 

 from place to place. No experiments have been 

 tried to prove this point ; the remarks are, neverthe- 

 less, very suggestive. The same publication 

 contains an interesting article by Professor F. 

 E. Weiss on " The Life of a Diatom." 



Recent Research in Foraminifera. — In the 

 Rend. Ace. Sc. Bologna, 1897, Dr. C. Fornasina 

 contributesanarticle, " Notemicropaleontologiche," 

 in which he shows that Nautilus granum, Lin., and 

 Marginulina spinulosa, Costa, are identical, and he 



fr 





c 





: ANTJ INA1 "I I'm I DPTBRA. 



. Corymbites; c, Prionocyplion ; (/, Acneus; c, Dendroldes; /, Dlneutes; k. Laclmosterna 

 A, Bolbocerus; i, Adranes (aficr Lc Contu and Horn). All greatly enlarged.— I used Life. 



study of these well-known forms of disease, for the 

 practice of methods and the acquiring of infor- 

 mation that will be valuable in the working out of 

 the lid ' those fungoid diseases that are 



more obscure. 

 Life Hi Mealy Bugs— Greenhouses 



•n prolific hunting-grounds for 

 the mi eat prevalence this 



•' the mealy bug (Dactylopiiu deilrucicr) would 

 seem to suggest that there 15 still mui i 

 in th' I this minute pest. 



The female usually lays about 1 



of which is of a light straw colour and 1 aboui 



0-25 mm in length The white SOCCOM nel 

 ii spun (or th<: pur ; 



;gs, and if this be removed and 



cared: implc material for study will be 



nv\. 



In th>; coarse "i an 

 on "The Distribution of the Freshwater 



also demonstrates the affinity that exists between 

 Rtophax compressta, Goes, and R. pupillosus, Neug. 

 He has studied the specimens in the original 

 collection of Costa, now in the Naples Museum, 

 and concludes that Biloculina cinnmcluusa, Costa, 

 is identical with li. deprcssa, d'Orb, and that 

 Nodosaria clava, Costa, is the same as Clavulina 

 communis, d'Orb. He gives an illustration of an 

 example of Sagrina, columcllaris, Brady, with a 

 fissile aperture, which was collected by Professor 

 Simonefli from the Neocene of Vigoleno in 

 Piacentlno. 



ian Specie Mongers.— The list of new 

 rotifers which appears in the current 1 ber "I 



Hi'' " M si opi< ;il [oiirnal " heai s .In nig tcsti 



mony to the energy which Is being displayed I",' 



inufacturers of species, It contains 109 now 



. .1 large proportion oi whit h has been given 



to specimens for points ol form oi structure so 



insignificant, that the author, Mr C !■'. Kousselei, 



