Notes and Brief Articles 



339 



Crown gall has been recently investigated by Levin and M. 

 Levine with a view to determining its analogy to animal cancer. 

 Some of the plant tumors studied grew slowly and were not in- 

 jurious, while others were malignant, and the appearance of 

 highly differentiated tissues subsequent to and participating in 

 the development of a malignant tumor is, it is claimed, unknown 

 in animal cancer. The conclusion arrived at is that a fast-devel- 

 oping simple crown gall presents much analogy to animal cancer 

 and offers ideal material for the cellular study thereof. The 

 structure of the growing central part is identical in practically all 

 crown galls thus far investigated. This structure, therefore, 

 represents only one type among the large number of pathological 

 processes grouped under the name of cancer. The study of 

 crown gall, however, affords no secure ground for a claim that all 

 human cancers are formed through the activity of an identical 

 organism. 



The following fungi were collected by W. A. Murrill on July 

 22, 1920, at Mountain Lake, Virginia, about 4,000 feet above sea- 

 level: Cordyceps militaris; Exobasidium Azaleae; Lachnocladium 

 Schzveinitzii; Laccaria laccata; Omphalopsis campanella; Gym- 

 nopus platyphyllus ; Russula foetentula, R. foetens, R. furcata, 

 R. jiava, and several other species ; Chanterel Chantarellus, C. 

 infundibuliformis, C. minor; Vaginata plumbea in several varie- 

 ties ; V enenarius Frostianus ; Crucibulum vulgare; Lycoperdon 

 cruciatum; Ceriomyces communis ; Fuscoporia ferruginosa on 

 dead chestnut ; Coriolus abietinus on hemlock ; Inonotus radiatus 

 on birch; Gano derma Tsugae; Elfvingia megaloma; Elfvingiella 

 fomentaria; and Pyropolyporus igniarius in black, aborted forms 

 on trunks of Betula alleghaniensis, as it occurs in Maine on Betula 

 lute a. 



Two papers on mushrooms by L. C. C. Krieger have recently 

 been published under the auspices of Dr. Howard A. Kelly, of 

 Baltimore, Maryland. One was a beautifully illustrated article 

 in the May number of the National Geographic Magazine on the 

 " Common Mushrooms of the United States," which has already 



