1912] CURRENT LITERATURE 545 



of the intermediate products may exist in such small quantities as to escape 



detection. — William Crocker. 



Endogone. — A paper by Bucholtz 13 on the subterranean genus Endogone 

 presents an unusually important addition to our knowledge of the group 

 Hemiasci, established by Brefeld to include supposed transitional forms 

 between the Phycomycetes and Ascomycetes. Further study of the forms 

 which were originally placed in the Hemiasci has resulted in the gradual 

 dismemberment of that group until it has lost its taxonomic status. As a result 

 of the work of Bucholtz on Endogone, that form also must be removed from 

 the Hemiasci and classed with the Phycomycetes. Bucholtz includes in his 

 account 7 of the 1 7 species of Endogone (including one described as new in his 

 paper). Two of these, E. lactiflua Berk, and E. Ludwigii Bucholtz, have a 

 sexual process resembling that of the Phycomycetes; E. macrocarpa Tul. 

 and E. microcarpa Tul. produce only chlamydospores ; in E. piriformis Link, 

 the zygospores or chlamydospores of the other forms are represented by 

 sporangia whose contents break up into spores as in the mucors; and in the 

 remaining forms studied, E. lignicola Pat. and E. fulva (Berk.), the mode of 

 reproduction is not definite. In these either sporangia or thin-walled chlamy- 

 dospores are produced. 



The youngest fruit bodies of Endogone lactiflua examined consist of a tissue 

 of interwoven hyphae covered by an outer more firmly interwoven layer, 

 forming a sort of peridium. Foreign hyphae occasionally penetrate the fruit 

 body, but these are easily distinguished from hyphae of Endogone by their 

 straight course and parallel walls. The hyphae of Endogone are sinuous in 

 their course and have many irregular inflations. Male and female gametangia 

 arise as saclike outgrowths of the hyphae. The nuclei in the gametangia are 

 arranged peripherally and undergo one division. There is no differentiation 

 of the protoplasm into periplasm and ooplasm as in the Peronosporales. A 

 large nucleus, whose origin is not clear, appears in the center of the game- 

 tangium. The other nuclei pass toward the base of the gametangium, which is 

 then cut off from the upper uninucleate portion by a wall. The process is the 

 same in both gametangia. The fusion of the uninucleate gametes begins at 

 the time of the formation of the wall. The nucleus of one gamete passes into 

 the other gamete, but no fusion of nuclei takes place. At the apex of the 

 fusion cell, now containing both nuclei, a portion of the wall is gelatinized, and 

 at this point a papillate outgrowth appears, which gradually enlarges as the 

 protoplasm and nuclei pass into it from the fusion cell. This outgrowth 



. a Bucholtz, F., Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Gattung Endogone Link. Beih. Bot. 

 Centralbl. 29:147-225. pis. 8. 1912. Originally published in Russian; Neue Beitr. 

 zur Morph. und Cytologic der unterirdischen Pilze. T. L Die Gattung Endogone 

 aus d. Xat.-Hist. Museum d. Grafin K. Scheremetjeff in Michailowskoje. Moskau 

 9:1911. See also preliminary note: tJber die Befruchtung von Endogone lactiflua 

 Berk. Ann. Myc. 9:329-330. 1911. 



