CURRENT LITERATURE 
NOTES. FOR STUDENTS 
General biology of rusts.—KLEBAHN’ has published a series of observations 
on rust fungi made during 1912 and 1913. The report covers three phases of 
work: a study of the factors which bring about the termination of the rest 
period in teleutospores, cultural work, and some observations on the mallow 
rust in relation to ERIKsson’s mycoplasma theory. 
In order to study the factors influencing the termination of the rest period 
in teleutospores, the author subjected teleutosporic material of Puccinia 
graminis, P. Phragmites, and P. Magnusiana to various treatments such as 
exposure to low temperatures, alternate wetting and drying, and continuous 
immersion in water. Apparently the changes in the spore which make 
germination possible depend not so much upon exposure to low temperatures 
as upon the action of moisture. Spores suspended in a dry shed and subject 
only to atmospheric moisture failed to germinate. Alternate wetting and 
drying is most potent in shortening the rest period; spores subjected to such 
treatment, even at room temperature, germinated in January two to three 
months before the usual time. Even continuous immersions with frequent 
changes of water somewhat shortens the rest period, although occasional drying 
seems to be essential to produce any marked effect. 
The second part of the paper has already been noted.2__ In the third section 
some experiments and observations on the mallow rust furnish a basis for dis- 
cussion of ERIKSSON’s views on the means of distribution of this fungus. 
ErIcKsson’s main contention’ is that the fungus is distributed in the myco- 
plasma state with the seed, and manifests itself by a general outbreak over the 
entire surface of the infected plant when it is about three months old. ese 
contentions are not borne out by the experiments of KLEBAHN, who finds that 
different groups of plants grown from the same lot of seed become infected at 
different times, and the outbreak does not involve the whole plant at once. 
The sori are at first scattered and few, as if originating from local infections. 
To the conidia-like segments sometimes produced by the promycelium of this 
rust ERIKSSON attributes the special function of giving rise to the mycoplasma 
* KLEBABN, H.., Kulturversuche mit Rostpilzen. ppc Pflanzenkrank 24 
2. fe. 1. O14; sis Beok Teleutosporenkeimung 
bei Rostpilzen. Jahresb. Verein Angew. Botanik rr 11:55-59. 1913 (ashort statement of 
the main facts in the foregoing paper). 
2 Rev. Bot. GAz. 60:245. I9QI5. 3 [bid. 542431. 1912. 
