274 



Mycologia 



will take charge of investigations of rice diseases, with headquar- 

 ters in the Washington, D. C, laboratory. 



A study of the relation of bacteria to cellulose fermentation 

 induced by fungi with special reference to decay of wood, ac- 

 cording to Henry Schmitz in the Annals of the Missouri Botan- 

 ical Garden for April, shows that cellulose dissolving bacteria 

 play no important part in the decay of wood under natural con- 

 ditions. The rate of decay however is materially increased by 

 the action of ordinary saprophytic bacteria. When autoclaved 

 wood is used, the changes which it undergoes must be taken into 

 consideration. — F. J. Seaver. 



Mrs. M. F. Wheeler, curator in the department of botany of 

 the Massachusetts Agricultural College, visited the Garden on 

 June 25 and 27 to examine specimens of powdery mildews col- 

 lected in Massachusetts. She is preparing a bulletin on this 

 group of parasitic fungi to appear within a few months. 



G. Arnaud, of the Station of Plant Pathology at Paris, has 

 recently published an extensive work on the Asterinees." The 

 group as here considered not only includes most of the genera 

 ordinarily included with the Perisporiales but many segregates 

 from other orders and families. The entire work consists of 289 

 pages, 53 plates, a number of text-figures, and three maps. In 

 addition to the systematic treatment, considerable space is de- 

 voted to climatology, geographic distribution, and the compara- 

 tive morphology of the group. — F. J. Seaver. 



A check list of the fungi of Porto Rico by Mr. John A. Steven- 

 son, formerly pathologist in the Insular Experiment Station, has 

 recently appeared. This list contains a record of all of the species 

 of fungi and slime molds occurring in the island so far as known 

 up to the date of publication. The species name is accompanied 

 by the name of the host or substratum, the locality, and the col- 

 lector when not collected by a member of the staff of the experi- 



