290 



Mycologia 



loan of $1,000,000 to the Forest Service from the President's 

 special defense fund. 



A particularly large and excellent collection of fungi, accom- 

 panied by beautiful photographs and many notes, has been sent 

 to the Garden for determination by Henry J. Rust, of Coeur 

 d'Alene, Idaho. This region is interesting because it lies near the 

 boundary line between the Rocky Mountain region and the Pacific 

 coast. 



Several wood-destroying fungi have been recently sent in for 

 determination by Professor R. J. Blair, of McGill University, 

 Montreal ; among them Coriolus pub esc ens, Coriolellus serialis, 

 Gloeophyllum trabeum, Lentodium tigrinum, Pyropolyporus con- 

 chat us, Phaeolus sistotremoides, and Micromphale ulmarium. 

 Specimens of Lentodium tigrinum are particularly well devel- 

 oped, which is rather rare for this species. 



A gigantic specimen of Ganoderma sessile Murrill, a bracket 

 fungus with a reddish, shining surface, was brought to the Gar- 

 den early in September by Mr. Michael Dougherty, who found it 

 at the base of a dead red maple in Central Park. The specimen 

 in its dried state measured 18 inches across and consisted of sev- 

 eral layers superimposed, making the entire cluster about 6 inches 

 thick. This species has been said by some to be identical with 

 Fomes lucidus of Europe, but it is quite certain that no European 

 mycologist would recognize it in this New York form. 



A serious disease of wheat, long known in Europe, has recently 

 been found in certain parts of the United States, particularly in 

 Virginia, where in some fields losses have foeen as high as 40 per 

 cent, of the crop. The disease, caused by a small nematode, or 

 eelworm, usually affects the wheat heads, although it may occur 

 on all parts of the plant above ground. Affected heads stay green 

 and ripen late and are smaller than those not affected. The 

 chaff usually opens at a wide angle. In place of grains of wheat, 



