118 
NECTRIA CUCURBITULA. 
The fir trees of Upper Bavaria have been attacked during recent 
years by a fungus \vhich penetrates the bark, chiefly through 
injuries caused by hail or the weight of snow, or still more 
by a microlepidopter GraphoUtha pactolana. Hartig states 
that the mycelium develops mainly in the sieve tubes (“ Unters. 
Forstbot. Inst. Miinchen,” 1880, p. 58), but also in the cortical 
tissue, and only in the spring ; its development in summer is 
arrested by the want of water in the substratum. The fertile 
layer appears principally near the base of the stem, where there is 
a more abundant supply of moisture, in the summer and autumn, 
as cushions, at first white, afterwards reddish, which break through 
the bark, and detach, firstly, conidia and subsequently red peri- 
tliecia, the latter probably the result of impregnation. The asco- 
spores are two-chambered, ripen in the winter, and produce on 
germination a mycelium, on which conidia are again formed in 
various ways, sometimes directly, sometimes on special shoots. 
The development of the mycelium and the formation of the conidia 
can be followed out in a drop of turpentine. The growth of the 
parasite destroys the bark and cambium ; the tree dying as soon 
as the mycelium has grown completely round the stem. — Journ. 
Roy. j\Jicr. Soc., Feb., 1881, p. 84. 
AGARICUS (FLAMMULA) CARBONARIUS. 
Tliis Agaric made its appearance .on burnt ground in Kew Gar- 
dens, during the month of November last. In some places it was 
accompanied by Cantharellus carbonarius, A. & S. In the next, 
and early part of the following month, very fine specimens, five to 
six inches high, and three inches in diameter, appeared. Up to 
the present time (the close of February) they have appeared iti 
succession for three months, without intermission, through the 
severe frosts, which reached 23 or 24 degrees, without putting a 
stop to their development. It is a noteworthy circumstance that 
one well-determined Agaric has flourished continuously for three 
months, and survived nights of intense frost. Agaricus ( Collybiu) 
velvtipes is also still to be found, but it did not appear until long 
2 iitcv Ag . carbonarius had commenced growth, and the specimens 
have been small. Although it has generally been admitted that 
Ag.velutipes is uninjured, and perhaps improved, by a little frost, I 
was not prepared to find a Flammula resisting 24 degrees with 
apparent comfort. 
M. C. C. 
