34 



News and Notes 



which time she made an exhaustive study of the Lactariae, or 

 gill-fungi having a milky juice. The results of her studies ap- 

 peared May 26 as a memoir of the Torrey Botanical Club (14: 

 1-109. /. 1-15. 1908). The descriptions and notes are very 

 complete, and the illustrations, from photographs by the author, 

 are excellent. A feature of great value to collectors is a con- 

 densed description of each species when fresh with distinguishing 

 characters to be used in the field. Seventy-one species are rec- 

 ognized in the United States, six of these being described as new. 



The Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, issued in August, 

 1908, contains the results of a series of infection experiments 

 with Erysiphe Chic or ace arum D.C. which were obtained by Dr. 

 G. M. Reed. It has been previously shown that among the mil- 

 dews a single morphological species may consist of several phys- 

 iologically distinct forms limited in their occurrence to a single 

 host or several closely related hosts. As a result of the experi- 

 ments on the above named powdery mildew, seventeen species 

 and varieties of cucurbits are added to the list of the host plants 

 of this fungus. It is also shown that the biologic form of 

 E. Chic or ace arum D.C. occurring on so many cucurbits is not 

 confined to the species of this family. The results of the many 

 inoculation experiments are carefully tabulated in this paper, 

 furnishing a reliable basis for the conclusions drawn by the 

 author. The conclusions of various writers in regard to physio- 

 logical forms of parasitic fungi are reviewed. It is supposed 

 that these physiological forms represent the first stages in the 

 evolution of species morphologically distinct. 



The October number of Annales Mycologici contains a mono- 

 graph of the North American Geoglossaceae by Dr. E. J. Durand, 

 of Cornell University. The author recognizes for this family of 

 discomycetous fungi in North America eleven genera, forty-two 

 species and two varieties. In addition to this number, eleven 

 species have been reported from North America which are not 

 well known. One new genus and nine new species are described. 



