584 The American Naturalist. [June, 
results of his observations and cultures, concluding that Venturia chlo- 
rospora f. Maliisthe much sought for ascosporous stage of Fusicladium 
dendriticum (Wallr.). In culture media of apple and pear broth and the 
same with addition of gelatin, he found the mycelium and conidia ob- 
tained from the ascospores of the Venturia to be identical with those 
obtained from the conidia of the Fusicladium taken directly from the 
host plant. He did not succeed in growing perithecia either from asco- 
spores or conidia, neither was he able to demonstrate that the scab can 
be produced by inoculations with these ascospores, owing to the fact 
that his experiment was tried in a locality where the disease made its 
appearance in unexpected abundance so as to confuse results. The 
evidence, therefore, rests on association and the supposed identity of 
the fungi which he obtained from ascospores and from conidia. The 
author states that without previous knowledge it was impossible to tell 
whether a given culture was derived from a conidium or an ascospore, 
and maintains that even without inoculatians he has fully established 
the genetic relationship of the two fungi, this argument will not, how- 
ever, be fully convincing to others. The perithecia are round to oval 
with club-shaped, 8-spored asci; spores brown, 2-celled, the forward 
end smaller, 11-15x7-8». At Proskau in 1893, the asci were ripe the 
last of March, in 1894, the middle of April. In gelatin cultures the 
mycelium penetrated to the depth of a centimeter and formed superfi- 
cially a dense black down, becoming gray-black with age. No pyeni- 
dia were observed, but round or oval pseudo-parenchymatic bodies 
finally formed in the cultures, and these were supposed to be incipient 
perithecia. Two closely related species of Venturia (V. chlorospora 
and V. ditricha f. piri) were found on old pear leaves attacked by 
Fusicladium, and because the extruded ascospores are exactly alike, so 
that the author could not tell with which he was working, the identity 
of apple and pear scab is also left for future determination. Altogether 
it would seem to have been better had the author held back the paper 
so as to include the results of another year, inasmuch as he intends to 
continue the investigation—Erwin F. Suirn. 
Poisonous Cactaceae.—The reports of certain Mexican travel- 
lers (last of all Lumholtz) that the Indians of that region become in- 
toxicated by eating certain species of cactus seem to have more truth in 
them than botanists generally have been willing to admit. Recently from 
Anhalonium Lewinii of northern Mexico, Lewin has isolated an alka- 
loid anhalonin, which is said to resemble the alkaloids found in many 
species of Strychnos. It was obtained pure, and both warm and cold 
