191i] CURRENT LITERATURE 245 
part deals with positive reactions, while the second part will deal with the 
negative. SHIBATA himself has contributed no small part of the knowledge 
in this field, especially with the forms Isoetes, Salvinia, and Equisetum. The 
paper is divided into seven sections dealing with the following phases of the 
subject: (1) introduction and methods, (2) action of organic acids, (3) action 
of metallic ions, (4) action of H and OH ions, (5) action of alkaloids and other 
organic bases, (6) application of the Weber-Fechner Law, (7) the classes of 
chemotactic sensibility and their relation to each other. 
h of facts is so great that no statement of it can be attempted 
here. Some of the generalizations, however, especially those derived from the 
seventh section, are of considerable interest. SurpatTa concludes that there 
exists in the pteridophytes three categories of positive chemotactic sensibility: 
(1) for the anions of malic acid and of the related dicarboxyl acids, (2) for the 
in t 
same category one member dulls the action of any other. In general, the 
ulling effect is proportional to the attractive value, but this is not always the 
case. Citrate, which is 1/10 as powerful in attracting Salvinia sperms as is 
maleate, is just as effective in dulling the action of maleate as is maleate itself- 
SHIB 
t 
found no dulling action between any two chemotactically active substances.— 
WILLIAM CROCKER 
Coremia formation by Penicillium.—By methods which at the present 
stage of plant physiology appear somewhat crude and superficial, WACHTER’ 
has attempted to find the factors influencing the formation of coremia in a 
orm of Penicillium, which he designates by the usual name of P. glaucum, 
but which can be easily identified as P. expansum Link. The method of study 
consisted in growing the fungus on sterilized slices of various fruits and vege- 
tables, and on the expressed juices of these, and also on an inorganic nutrient 
solution with various concentrations of sugar, this being the only medium 
approximating anything like known conditions. When the results are sifted, 
we are left in the same position as before as to the factors which influence 
the formation of coremia, namely, that when grown on various substrata of 
unknown composition this form (like other coremia-forming species) some- 
times forms coremia and sometimes not, a fact, moreover, clearly formulated 
Se THOM in regard to this and other species of similar habit. The work o 
33 WACHTER, ve peepee die Koremien von Penicillium glaucum. Jahrb. Wiss 
Bot. 48:521~-548. 
34'THom, CH. ee eres, of species of Penicillium. U.S. Dept. Agr., Bur. 
Animal Industry, Bull. 118 
