ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
323 
times a short mycele. The colonies were at first grey, afterwards be- 
coming white and granular. Another characteristic feature was the 
formation of a membrane which gradually spread over the surface of 
the medium. Experiments made on animals with the affected skin were 
negative, but injections resulted in the formation of growths in the 
abdominal cavity, lungs, and bronchial glands. Pure cultures were 
obtained from the deposits. 
Association of Chsetophoma oleacina and Bacillus Olese.* — Under 
the name of Chsetophoma oleacina , M. P. Vuillemin had described a 
hyphomycete usually found in company with Bacillus Olese ; the two 
appearing to play a similar part in causing the disease of olive trees to 
that played by Mycogone rosea and Tricholoma terreum — that is to say, 
the fungus paves the way for the bacteria into the host-plant. Recently 
the author has verified the existence of Ch. oleacina and of B. olese in 
cankered ash trees of France and Germany. This is another example of 
the commensalism of a schizomycete and a hyphomycetous fungus on 
trees. 
Fossil Fungi. j— From the evidence drawn from the remains of Fungi 
found in the different geological formations, Herr M. Staub supports 
the view that the aerial forms have sprung from marine ancestral types 
belonging to the Phycomycetes. The oldest known fungus, Palseoachlya 
penetrans , was a parasite on coral in the Silurian period. Other Phyco- 
mycetes were abundant in the Carboniferous period ; and remains of 
Discomycetes also occur. A Bhizomorpha , an JEcidium , and members 
of various families of Ascomycetes, are found in the Chalk. The fungi 
of the Csenozoic period present a very close resemblance to those which 
exist at the present time. 
Myxomycetes. 
Vilmorinella, a new Genus of Myxomycetes.f — Parasitic on the 
mucus of several species of Micrococcus on gangrenous potatoes, M. E. 
Eoze finds an organism which he regards as the type of another new 
genus of Myxomycetes characterised by its extreme simplicity. It 
consists of a naked spherical rudimentary plasmode, which, under certain 
conditions, becomes encysted. 
Myxobotrys.§ — Recurring to his account of this genus, Herr H. 
Zukal admits its identity with Cliondromyces. He maintains, however, 
in opposition to Thaxter, || that the genus belongs to the Myxomycetes, 
and not to the Schizomycetes. 
Protophyta. 
a. Schizopliycese. 
Rhizosolenia4 — Under the name Bhizosolenia Peragalloi , Count 
Abbe F. Castracane describes a new species of this genus from the 
* Bull. Soc. Mycol. de France, xiii. (1897) pp. 44-5. See Centralbl. Bakt. u. 
Par., 2 te Abt., iii. (1897) p. 256. 
f SB. K. Ung. Naturw. Gesell. Budapest, Feb. 12, 1897. See Bot. Centralbl., 
Ixix. (1897) p.267. 
X Comptes Kendus, cxxiv. (1897) pp. 417-8. 
§ Ber. Deutscb. Bot. Gesell., xv. (1897) pp. 17-8. Cf. this Journal, ante, p. 151. 
II Cf. this Journal, 1893, p. 370. 
Atti Accad. Pont. Nuovi Lincei, 1. (1897) pp. 53-8. 
