r)lG JOURNAL Ol- TJIE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



n wider spread of tlic cpideiiiic among these dire enemies — themselves 

 constituting^ an ('i)idemic sconr*,'e — to the planters. Unless we are in 

 error as to the luemorv of an event, En«,'lish investi^^^ators had already 

 estal>lished and published the fact that the fungus in question was not 

 a liacteriuni, an Kinjmsa, harm, or such form as might naturally be 

 expected from j)revious experience, but a Mucor, a discovery of supreme 

 importance in view of recent developments regarding the possibilities of 

 the assumption of parasitic habits by genera usually saprophytic. 



Lindau has now come forward with a complete account of the 

 sponingifcrous stage of this fungus, with a plate of illustrations, showing 

 dearly tliat it is really a typical Miu-or —h(} proposes the name Miaor 

 locmticidn for it— and leaving little to be desired beyond details of 

 infection and the j)roduction of zygospores. 



It is greatly to W ho})ed that investigations on the spot will supply 

 these details in due course.- M. II'.* 



MoHPHOLOGY. 



Morphology, Cardinal Principles of. liy W. V. (ianong {Bot. 

 (r<(i. vol. xwi. p. l'2() ; No. 6).- A sumnuiry of the principles upon which 

 newer morphology is based. The author distinguishes between 

 "idealistic" and "realistic" morphology; the fonner is concerned with 

 the i)hysical facts of metamorphoses in organisms, the latter lays especial 

 emphasis on embryology. The one is phylogenetic, the other ontogenetic. 

 ])()th are independent of the exact method by which the evolution is 

 worked out. 



The following are the author's fundamental principles of moiphology : 

 — Continuity of origin, opportunism, functional domination, indeterminate 

 anatomical plasticity, metam()ri)hosis along lines of least resistance, 

 metamorphosis by transformation, and giadation in morphological 

 membership. Each of these is treated in detail. — (r. H. 



OiutiiN OF Stkcies. 



Originof Species, experimental Investigations in the. Hy Hugo 

 IK \'ries {Rev. (jhi. Bot. xiii. p. 5, 1901 ; tigs. 1 10). — Prof. De Vries is 

 well known as an experimenter in connection with problems dealing with 

 matters concerning lieredity. By sowing, in large numbers, seeds of 

 (Knothcra Lamarkiana, Seringe, he obtained amongst the offspring a few 

 individuals possessing characters which differentiated them from the 

 parent stock. Some of these, e.g. (K. alhida, uauella, itc, reappeared in 

 fresh annual sowings of the Lauiarlxiana seed, whilst others, e.g. (K.gigas, 

 seem to occur only at infrecpient intervals. The author regards the 

 parent species as being in a condition of mutability, as giving rise at the 

 present time to new species, of which he takes the varieties he obtains as 

 evidence. He believes that this represents the most probable mode in 

 which such new species are normally produced, and that the gradual 



* Since writing this we have seen Mr. Massee's paper " On the South African Lociivt 

 Fun<,'us," Keto Bull.. Nos. 172 174, 1901, in which the Miicor is named .V. exitiosiis : 

 there are dilTerences between the two forms whicli need further in\ esti^^ation. 



