46 
LITERATURE. 
The type specimen of Trametes Trogii , Berk., is in the Kew 
Herbarium, and its history is as follows : — 
Several specimens were sent by Trog to Berkeley, accompanied 
by the following note, in Trog’s writing : “ Cela serait-il Trametes 
gallica ? II se trouve sur des penpliers coupes et combes au 
bord d’un torrent.” 
The following description, drawn up from Berkeley’s type, shows 
that it is quite distinct from Trametes hispida , Bagl. : — 
Trametes Trogii, Berk- In Troy's Verzeich. schioeiz. Schwamme. 
Sessile, attached by a broad base, 5-10 c.m. long, 3-5 c.m. wide, 
semi-circular or reniform, margin acute, entire or slightly lobed, 
convex when young, then almost plane ; flesh about 2 m.m. thick 
behind, gradually becoming thinner towards the margin, white ; 
surface of pileus densely strigose, the fibrils elongated, fasciculate, 
yellowish-brown when dry, becoming partly naked with age, slightly 
zoned ; pores 1*5-2 m.m. deep behind, and sometimes decurrent 
when the specimens are imbricated, irregularly angular, averaging 
about 0*5 m.m. in diameter ; dissepiments thin, edges acute, 
minutely toothed ; spores obliquely elliptical, apiculate at the base, 
7x3 /i. 
On dead poplar. Locality not stated. 
The above mistake is evidently due to a misapplication of the 
term type. As previously pointed out in this Journal, there can 
be but one type specimen, and if the following definitions were 
adhered to, similar mistakes could not possibly occur: — 
(1) . Type specimen . — The actual specimen from which the 
specific character of the species is drawn up. 
(2) . Authentic specimen. — A specimen, other than the type, 
named by the author of the species. 
(3) . Typical specimen. — A specimen agreeing in all essential 
points with the original specific character. 
Checking Potato Disease. — The Board of Trade has issued a 
report on recent experiments in checking potato disease at home 
and abroad. There is a considerable amount of information on the 
methods of potato cultivation in different countries, also on the 
various modes of treatment for the purpose of checking the ravages 
caused by Phytophthora infestans. The “ Life History of the 
Fungus” is exceedingly poor, and evidently compiled by someone 
unacquainted with the literature of the subject, much less with the 
facts of the case. There is a figure described as “ Section of Leaf 
of Potato Plant, with Hyphae of Fungus emerging,” but the 
fungus lacks the features that characterize P. injestans, and the 
section of the leaf from which it emerges is not that of a potato. 
The reputed discovery of the oospores of P. injestans , by Wor- 
thington G. Smith, is accepted and incorporated as forming part of 
the life-cycle of the fungus, whereas it is well known that oospores 
are not formed in this species, the bodies seen by Smith belonging 
to some other fungus growing along with Phytopthora. 
