76 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JANUARY 
filaments with these gall cells the parasite grows out into fruiting branches. 
Single nuclei enter the single-spored sporangium and later divide twice, pro- 
ducing the four nuclei of each spore (rarely two or more than four). 
The association of the plasma of host and parasite in a mixochimaera is 
supposed to render the protoplasmic membranes of the host permeable to 
diffusion of the material necessary to the normal growth of the parasite. 
The galls are also supposed to serve as a means of bringing about a branching 
of the host hypha in places such as old sporangiophores, where the ability 
to branch has been lost. 
In seeking for a possible origin of the “‘sikyotic” parasitism (from oucva=a 
cupping-glass) of Chaetocladium, BURGEFF discusses other cases of fusions in 
the fungi. In ban: anastomoses found in Mortierella, Syncephalis, Ascomy- 
cetes, and B ycetes, a cross wall, if formed, is produced after the fusion, 
as shown by KnrEp, but in this case the process is connected with the dis- 
tribution of nuclei in a diploid mycelium. Failing to find an analogy with 
vegetative processes, BURGEFF suggests that the curious type of parasitism 
which he has studied may have originated by way of sexual fusions; and in 
support of this suggestion points out the similarities between the processes 
involved in conjugation in the Mucors and those in the formation of his 
sikyotic galls in Chaetocladium. The suggestion is believed to need strengthen- 
ing by tests with plus and minus races of host and parasite.—A. F. BLAKESLEE. 
Calcium.—Suepp* has found that the procedure which has been adopted 
by the arene ara of Official Agricultural Chemists for determination of 
calcium in soil solution does not give accurate results, due to the occlusion of 
est types of these soils have the highest calcium content, and the 
poorest have the lowest. ‘‘Many samples have been found to be so low in 
calcium that their deficiency in this constituent requires consideration as well 
as their low phosphorus and nitrogen supply. The application of a ton of 
limestone or of rock phosphate per acre to such soils frequently adds more 
calcium than is already present. There is no doubt that, in such cases, these 
materials, or even moderate applications of some commercial fertilizers, are 
beneficial because of the plant food (calcium) they supply in addition to other 
good effects they may accomplish. 
NELLER,3 working on limed and unlimed plots of the New Jersey Experi- 
ment Station, finds that the oxidizing power of the limed plots is approxi- 
2 Suepp, O. M., A proposed method for the estimation of total calcium in soils 
and the significance of the element in soil fertility. Soil Science 10:1-14. 1920. 
3 NELLER, J. R., The oxidizing power of soil from limed and unlimed plots and 
its relation to other factors. Soil Science 10:29-37. 1920. 
