238 



Musciivi Ne7m. 



Milowia nivea. Milowia was considered by Professor Sac- 

 cardo as possessing such distinct characters, that he estabhshed 

 a new tribe of the'Hyphomycetes called Milowiese, with the 

 genus Milowia as the type. At a still later date, Zopf , a German 

 botanist, discovered a black ascigerous fungus parasitic on the 

 roots of a species oi Senecio in Germany. This fungus proved 

 to be new, and received the generic name of Thielavia (Figs. 

 3 and 4). Zopf observed that the fungus called Torula basicola 

 was growing along with his new fungus Thielavia, and on 

 cultivating the Torula, he found that it gave origin to the 

 Thielavia, hence Zopf proved that the Torula was a conidial 

 condition of his new|^genus Thielavia, which he accordingly 

 named Thielavia basicola. Zopf also observed the presence of 

 a white fungus accompanying the Torula, which from his des- 

 cription, tallied with my genus Milowia, but had no opportunity 

 for growing this form. Subsequently I met with Milowia, 

 and found that the spores of this form gave origin to the 

 Tornula stage, the spores of which in turn, after a period of 

 rest, produced the highest ascigerous condition of the fungus, 

 Thielavia basicola. 



All the three stages follow each other on the same host- 

 plant. The two conidial forms, Milowia and Torula develop 

 on the living plant, and are parasitic ; whereas the highest 

 ascigerous form only appears when the host-plant is dead and 

 decayed, hence its tardy discovery. 



Thielavia, in its Torula stage, was recently sent to Kew 

 for determination from the neighbourhood of Doncaster, 

 where it had destroyed a row of young peas. The fungus is 

 recognised as a destructive parasite, on the roots of many 

 different kinds of cultivated plants, both in Europe and in the 

 United States. 



♦♦— — 



A pleasant afternoon was spent on May 15th, when a repre- 

 sentative gathering of Curators and others interested in Museums 

 assembled at Burnley, on the invitation of the Chairman and Secretary of 

 the Burnley Art Gallery and Museum Committee. The collections are 

 housed in the historic Towneley Hall, which, together with its excellent 

 grounds, was purchased by the Burnley Corporation many years ago. 

 The fine hall is a museum in itself. One room illustrates Old Burnley, 

 and there are a few geological and archgeological exhibits. Amongst the 

 latter is a fine flint dagger, found at Burnley. It is of the rare type illus- 

 trated in this journal for July, 1908, p. 231. After tea, which was kindly 

 provided in the Hall, various museum appliances, etc., were shewn, and 

 papers were read on ' The Use of Illustrations in Museums,' by Mr. P. 

 Entwistle (Liverpool) and ' Museum District Survey Work,' by ^Ir, S. L. 

 Mosley (Keighle}^). 



Naturalist, 



