Notes and Brief Articles 



191 



for January, 192 1. This fungus will complete its life-history on 

 media containing starch or a derivative of starch with 1 per cent 

 glycerin. Besides the three known forms of spores, the author 

 discovers a fourth form, a two-celled multinucleate spore. No 

 conclusive evidence was found of the occurrence of pycnidia in 

 the. life-history of this species. 



Fomes geotropus, a large polypore found frequently at the base 

 of living trunks of various trees in the Gulf states and many 

 parts of tropical America, causing serious decay, has often been 

 confused with Fomes ulmarius, which it greatly resembles. Hav- 

 ing studied the two species carefully in the field, I must consider 

 them of different origin and distribution so far as the present era 

 of the earth's history is concerned. Let those who regard them 

 identical explain why F. ulmar'ms is common on elm trees in Eng- 

 land, for example, and never found on similar trees in the United 

 States north of the Gulf region. 



The Torrey Bulletin for January, 192 1, contains two impor- 

 tant articles on fungi ; the first by H. E. Thomas on " The rela- 

 tion of the health of the host and other factors to infection of 

 Apium graveolens by Septoria Apii" and the second by Prof. 

 Arthur on " New species of Uredineae." The latter contains de- 

 scriptions of two new genera, Lipospora Arthur and Tclcuto- 

 spora Arthur & Bisby ; 5 new species, Pnccinia pacifica Blasdale, 

 P . irrequisita Jackson, P. additicia Jackson & Holway, Uromyces 

 coordinatus Arthur, Ravenelia havanensis Arthur, and Lipospora 

 tucsonensis Arthur ; and a large number of new combinations. 



An imperial bureau of mycology, with Mr. E. J. Butler as 

 director, has been established at Kew Gardens, England, for the 

 encouragement and co-ordination of work on the diseases of 

 plants caused -by fungi in the British Overseas Dominions and 

 Colonies. One of its functions will be to lend out to workers 

 without good library facilities original papers on mycology and 



