﻿CURRENT LITERATURE 



175 



of the Malayan region, and other related ferns. Cheiropleuria exhibits an 

 unusual mixture of primitive and advanced characters, being thus a remark- 

 ably synthetic form. Its characters connect it on the one hand ("downward ") 

 with Dipteris, and on the other hand with Platy cerium. The relatively primi- 



trace, and frequently bifurcate leaf. The relatively advanced characters are 

 reticulate venation and a "mixed" sorus. Bower claims that "the mixed 

 characters which this fern shows are one of the clearest examples of non- 

 parallelism of progression in the several criteria used for comparison among 

 ferns." An interesting situation is that probably Platycerium is a derivative 

 from the Dipteris stock, "specialized for epiphytic habit." Other interesting 

 connections are pointed out, and the details of the investigation are full of sug- 

 gestion.— J. M. C. 



Endoconidia. — Brierley 10 has investigated the "endoconidia" of Thielavia 

 basicola, a well known parasitic fungus referred to the Perisporiaceae. These 

 interesting cells are described by Zopf as formed in acropetal succession, and 



two layers, the outer forming a sheath which is left behind. Brierley finds 

 that these conidia are not endospores formed by free cell division within an 

 "endoconidial" cell, but are abstricted "acrogenously " from the conidiophore. 

 The first conidium is liberated by the differentiation of its walls into an inner 

 wall and a sheath, and by rupture of the latter at its apex. The later conidia 

 grow out through the sheath of the first, and are freed by the splitting of their 

 basal walls. The author thinks that this kind of conidial development is 

 probably that of all "endoconidia."— J. M. C. 



Hybridization and water requirement— In breeding plants for drought 

 resistance it is desirable to know whether there is a definite relationship between 

 efficiency in the use of water in the hybrid and in the parents. This question has 

 been investigated by Briggs and Shantz," using corn and wheat hybrids and 

 their parent strains, with the result that the hybrids were found to range in 

 water requirement from 10 per cent below to the same amount above the pa- 

 requirement, depart more than 6 per cent from the parental mean— Geo. D. 



Parasitic fungi of Wisconsin. — Davis, 12 in continuation of his studies of 

 the parasitic fungi of Wisconsin, has issued three papers supplementary to his 



,0 Brierley, William B., The "endoconidia" of Thielavia basicola Zopf. Ann. 

 Botany 29:483-493- pi- 23. 1015. 



" Briggs, L. J., and Shantz, H. L., Influence of hybridization and cross-pollina- 

 tion on the water requirement of plants. Jour. Agric. Research 4:391-402. 1915. 



u Davis, J. J., Notes on parasitic fungi in Wisconsin. Trans. Wise. Acad. Sci. 

 18:78-92, 93-109, 251-271. 1915. 



