654 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Diorchidium.* — An examination of the various species of this 
alleged genus of Uredineae has convinced Herr P. Dietel that its generic 
distinction from Puccinia cannot be maintained, and that the oblique 
position of the two-celled spores is an adaptation for the easy detach- 
ment of the spores from the nutrient substratum. In D. pallidum the 
mode of development of the spores differs materially from that of the 
other species, and the author proposes it as the type of a new genus 
Sphenospora. 
Herr P. Magnus f dissents in some points from Dietel’s conclusions. 
He considers the structure of the teleutospores to present a valid 
distinction between Puccinia and Diorchidium , to which latter genus he 
refers P. lateripes. Diorchidium Steudneri, on the other hand, belongs 
rather to Uropyxis, as also does Puccinia mirabilissima. 
Frankia.J — Prof. G. F. Atkinson finds the European Frankia Alni 
infesting galls on the roots of Alnus serrulata in America, and a new 
species F. Ceanothi on root-galls of Ceanothus americanus. When the 
ceil-protoplasm of the host is permeated by the very fine hyphse of the 
attacking fungus, the whole has a close resemblance to a plasmode. 
Whether these organisms are symbiotic or not, he was unable to 
determine. 
Nuclei of the Hymenomycetes.? — Mr. H. Wager describes the 
structure of the nuclei in the basids of Agaricus stercorarius, and the 
changes which take place in them. The young basid contains two 
nuclei, which pass into it from the hymenial hypliae. At an early period 
these unite into a single nucleus, which is at first placed near the centre 
of the basid, and afterwards moves to its apical portion. The struc- 
ture of the nuclei is similar to that of the higher plants ; they vary 
greatly in size. Soon after the nucleus has taken up its position near 
the apex of the basid, and before the appearance of the sterigmas, it 
begins to divide, first into two and then into four. These four nuclei 
now move to the base of the basid, and then again to its apex, each 
occupying a position near the base of a sterigma ; their passage into 
the spores was not observed. The spores do not appear to contain a 
nucleus during their early stages, but when mature they contain two. 
Conids of Hydnum.|| — M. J. de Seynes describes a condition of 
Hydnum coralloides in which the subbymenial filaments produce small 
thick-walled conids instead of basids. They occur in masses or chains, 
and resemble those of Polyporus biennis. 
Conidiiferous Polyporus.1T— M. N. Patouillard describes another 
example of a conidiiferous Polyporus , in a new species P. bambusinus , 
growing on bamboos in Tonquin, the tubes of which bear neither basids 
* Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., x, (1892) pp. 57-62 (1 fig.). Cf. this Journal, 1891, 
p. 783. t Tom. cit., pp. 192-5. 
t Bull, Torrey Bot. Club, xix. (1892) pp. 171-7 (1 pi.). Cf. this Journal, 1891, 
p. 384. § Ann. of Bot., vi. (1892) pp. 146-8. 
1| Bull. Soc. Mycol. France, vii. (1891) pp. 76-80. See Bot. Centralbl., 1891, 
Beih., p. 168. 
H Bull. Soc. Mycol. France, vii. (1891) pp. 101-3. See Bot. Centralbl., 1892, 
Beih., p. 168. Cf. this Journal, 1891, p. 384. 
