CURRENT LITERATURE 
AOLES FOR STUDENTS 
Morphology of Nidularia.—In two papers Fries has given a clear account 
of the morphology of the fruit-body and spore development of Nidularia 
pisiformis Tul. The first paper deals with the development of the fruit-body." 
The youngest stages observed are nodules about o.4 mm. in diameter. In the 
earliest stages these are differentiated into a uniform medulla and a cortex 
which become more pronounced later. All the cells are binucleate. The 
medulla soon becomes differentiated into a lower sterile portion and an upper 
denser portion in which the peridiola arise. The beginning of the peridiola 
subhymenial layer. The peridiola, spherical at first, assume an oval form. 
A wall is formed around them, but this at first remains open at the poles. 
Through the openings the peridiola remain in connection with the surrounding 
medulla during their growth; the wall finally incloses the whole peridiolum. 
The development agrees in the main with the development of the fruit-bodies 
of other members of this peculiar group of Gasteromycetes, except that the 
peridiola are not connected to the wall of the fruit-body by strands of hyphae 
as in Crucibulum and Cyathus. 
In the second paper? an account of spore development of the same plant 
is given. The young basidia are binucleate, agreeing in this respect with other 
Basidiomycetes, as well as with the ascus of Ascomycetes. The two nuclei 
grow to about twice the size of the vegetative nuclei, after which fusion takes" 
place. This is followed by the usual rapid growth of the fusion nucleus just 
previous to the divisions leading to spore formation. The chromatin, which 
is in the so-called synapsis stage, later spreads out through the nuclear cavity 
in the form of an irregular band, which is single at first, but later appears ech 
split lengthwise into two parallel threads. The chromatin thread shortens 
and thickens and breaks up into a number of double chromosomes. This 
process was not easily made out, but the author is inclined to believe that 
two such double chromosomes are formed, although some earlier stages seemed 
*Fries, Ros. E., Om Utvecklingen af Fruktkroppen och Peridiolerna sss 
Nidularia (with German résumé). Svensk. Bot. Tidsk. 4:126-138. pl. 1. fi8- J 
IgIo, 
?—. Ueber die cytologischen Verhiltnisse bei der Sporenbildung vo" 
laria. Zeitschr. Bot. 3:145-165. pls. 2. 1911. 
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