418 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Conjugation of Swarm-spores. — Herr F. Oltmanns* contests the 
accuracy of the well-known observations of Berthold on the conjugation 
of the swarm-spores (gametes) from the plurilocular sporanges of Edo - 
carpus siliculosus. From observations, made chiefly on E. criniger , he is 
able to state that, especially in cultivation, it is exceedingly common for 
the swarm-spores of this and of other algae to be attacked and devoured by 
Flagellata, and he believes this phenomenon to have been mistaken by 
Berthold for a conjugation of swarm-spores. Especially he calls attention 
to the rarity of observations of the germination of the assumed zygotes by 
Berthold or others. 
In reply, Dr. G-. Berthold f entirely denies the accuracy of Oltmanns’ 
interpretation of the observed phenomena, and gives further details, not 
hitherto published, of his own observations. He states that the swarm- 
spores exercise an influence on one another even before the female comes 
to rest. 
Fungi. 
Action of Alcohol on the Germination of the Spores of Fungi.J — 
According to M. P. Lesage, alcoholic solutions up to a concentration of 
6-8 per cent, do not prevent the germination of the spores of Fungi 
( Penicillium glaucum , Sterigmatocystis nigra). Above this limit alcoholic 
solutions impede germination, and finally kill the spores. A rise of 
temperature increases the toxic action. 
Mucorini.§ — M. M. Leger has studied the structure of the cell and 
the phenomena of conjugation in a large number of genera of Mucorini, 
and finds in all a great uniformity. 
In the hyphse the nuclei are very numerous, varying in diameter 
from 0*5 to 5 p ; they have a central deeply staining nucleole, sur- 
rounded by a peripheral layer which does not stain (with haematoxylin), 
the whole enclosed in a nuclear sac. The vegetative nuclei always divide 
directly ; mitotic divisions occurring only in the spores at the period 
of germination. 
The young zygosperm contains a very large number of nuclei de- 
rived from each gamete, which gradually disappear. As soon as the 
last have disappeared, two groups of bodies make their appearance, one 
at each end of the zygosperm, which the author terms “ embryogenic 
bodies ” ; they are naked masses of protoplasm apparently derived from 
the nuclei ; later, they fuse together in each group. These bodies, the 
“embryogenic spheres,” surround themselves with a double wall, and 
constitute the “ embryonic spheres ” of the mature zygosperm. When 
the zygosperm is about to germinate, these spheres lose their walls and 
unite to form a single central mass with numerous nuclei. In the for- 
mation of the azygospores, exactly the same process takes place, except 
that there is only one group of embryogenic bodies, and one embryonic 
sphere. The author regards the union of the embryogenic bodies as a 
true sexual process ; the azygospores are therefore as truly sexual bodies 
* Flora, lxxxiii. (1897) pp. 398-414 (1 pi. and 4 figs.). 
t Tom. cit., pp. 415-25. t Ann. Sci, Nat. (Bot.), iii. (1896) pp. 151-9. 
§ ‘ Rech. s. 1. structure d. Mucorinees,’ Poitiers, 1896, 151 pp. and 21 pis. See 
Bot, Gazette, xxiii. (1897) p. 389. Cf. this Journal, 1895, p. 461. 
