38 
Mycologia 
The classification of the fungi according to their cytological 
and biological characters has been attempted by P. Vuillemin in 
one of a series of volumes devoted to fungi. 
Insects play only a secondary role in the spread of ergot among 
forage grasses, according to results obtained by E. Gain (Compt. 
Rend. Soc. Biol. [Paris] 72: 189-191. 1912). 
At the school of botany, University of Texas, Dr. I. M. Lewis 
has been promoted from instructor to adjunct professor and Dr. 
F. McAllister has been appointed an instructor in botany. 
Two important papers on the relationship of the chestnut canker 
fungus, one by P. J. Anderson and H. W. Anderson and the other 
by C. L. Shear, appeared in Phytopathology for October, 1912. 
Professor R. Kent Beattie, formerly head of the department 
of botany in the State College of Washington, has resigned to 
accept a position in the Division of Plant Pathology, Bureau of 
Plant Industry. 
A disease of the beech in the Rhine region, which quickly kills 
trees seventy or eighty }'ears old, is discussed by Dr. P. Magnus 
(Gesell. Naturf. Freunde Berlin 436-439. 1911), and declared 
to be due to Armillaria mucida. 
In an article on some fungous diseases of the prickly pear (Ann. 
Myc. 10: 113-134. 1912), F. A. Wolf discusses Sphacrella 
Opiintiae, Perisporium Wrightii, Hcndersonia Opuntiae, and sev- 
eral other less destructive species. 
The very injurious effects of Armillaria mellea, which attacks 
the roots of a great variety of trees, are discussed by W. T. Horne 
(Mo. Bull. Com. Hort. Cal. i: 216-225. 1912) and preventive 
measures of various kinds are suggested. 
Professor R. B. Thaxter, of Harvard University, sailed for 
Trinidad October 1 1 to continue his researches on the Laboulbe- 
