A Fungus on Butter. 
o 60 
close massing together of the dark-brown spore-chains. Many of 
the submersed hyplne do not throw off aerial branches, but, instead, 
exhibit a tendency to close transverse septation — Brefeld’s chlamydo- 
spore formation. 
A distinguished botanical authority, to whom I submitted a cul- 
tivation, identified it as typical Cladosporium herbarum , Lk. It 
appears to me, however, to differ in several notable respects from the 
descriptions of that ubiquitous form as given by Cooke, Massee, 
and Saccardo. On the other hand, Corda figures in his leones 
Fungorum a “ Penicillium Olivaceum ,” which is very near the speci- 
men I have under my eyes, but which I have been unable to trace 
in the more modern books. Its specific name would now ensure its 
exclusion from Penicillium. In his Mykologische Uhtersuchungen , 
Bd. X., Taf. VI., f. 40, Brefeld depicts a brown mould almost iden- 
tical with mine, which he has traced to Sphcerella punctiformxs. 
Whatever be the exact botanical position of this organism, I 
think there can be little doubt that it belongs to the developmental 
cycle of one or other of the Pyrenomycetes that infest the wood used 
for making butter-boxes. Some months ago I was requested by a 
leading box-manufacturer in Dublin to ascertain the nature of cer- 
tain black spots on the interior of deal boxes used for packing butter. 
I found the spots to consist of a fungal development almost identical 
with that which I now describe as occurring on butter. It seems 
natural to suppose that the spores still present on the imperfectly 
seasoned planks may be induced to develop by the moisture exuding 
from the butter. Inasmuch as parchment paper is generally inter- 
posed between the wood and the butter, one must suppose that 
either a solution of continuity takes place in the paper, or that the 
fungal hyplne grow through it on to the butter — a by no means 
unwarranted supposition, for damp paper is a happy hunting-ground 
for the botanist on the look out for both Mucedines and Dematiei. 
Should this occurrence of brown mould on butter become un- 
pleasantly frequent, then it might be necessary to suggest some 
means of keeping it in check. By selecting for boxes only such 
wood as is carefully seasoned ; by brushing over the interior of the 
boxes with some harmless antiseptic, such as boracic acid or boro 
glyceride, and treating the paper in the same way ; and, lastly, by 
avoiding the introduction of superfluous moisture with the butter 
and ensuring closeness and uniformity of packing, the desired end 
may, I believe, be readily accomplished. 
Edmond J. McWeeney. 
Bacteriological Laboratory, 
Albert Farm, Glasnevin, Dublin. 
WHEAT, SHEEP, AND CATTLE IN 1894. 
The issue by the Board of Agriculture, at an earlier date than 
usual, of certain sections of the Agricultural Returns of Great 
Britain, renders available a series of figures which, though interest- 
