368 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Oedocephalum and Rhopalomyces.* * * § — M. A. de Wevre discusses the 
systematic position of these genera of fungi, which he places in the first 
of Costantin’s four great groups of Mucedineae, in which the spores are 
inserted on a special apparatus in the form of a rounded or spherical 
vesicle. 
Fungus parasitic on Mushroom.! — Dr. 0. Stapf describes the 
attacks of a parasitic fungus which are extremely destructive to 
mushroom-beds in Vienna. The diseased mushrooms are infested by a 
Saccharomyces, probably S. glutinis, but this is always preceded by the 
appearance of a mould, Verticillium agaricinum, covering the beds with 
a dense weft of delicate hyphae, and producing abundance of conids. 
The Verticillium is undoubtedly the conidial form of an ascomycetous 
fungus belonging to the family Sphaeriaceas, and the genus Hypomyces 
or some other nearly allied to it ; but the exact species the author was 
unable to determine, though it is probably Mycogone Linhii. 
Slime-disease of Horse-chestnut. | — Herr F. Ludwig finds on horse- 
chestnuts in the avenues in Thuringia a mucilaginous fungus-disease 
resembling that previously described in the case of apple-trees. It 
occurs also on oaks and birches, in the latter case in connection with 
Polyporus hetulinus. The attacks of the parasite are accompanied by a 
fermentative process. V'hen the mucilage is of a brown colour, Torula 
monilioides was found ; in the black patches on the beech, an alga, 
Scytonema Hoffmanni, lives in symbiosis with the bacteria. A process 
of fermentation was also abundantly observed on the bark and exuded 
gum of cherry-trees, due to the action of Coryneum Beyerinkii. 
Micro-organisms of Fermentation.§ — A. Jorgensen’s work on the 
microbes of industrial fermentation has recently reappeared in a second 
edition. The number of pages has been increased from 138 to 188, and 
the figures from 36 to 41. The book is divided into six chapters which 
deal with the methods of fermentation, microscopical preparation, pure 
cultivations, analysis of air and water, bacteria, moulds, alcoholic 
ferments, the progress made in the art of fermentation, and the improve- 
ments for which the trade is indebted to it. 
New Puccinia.|| — Herr F. Ludwig describes a new species of 
Puccinia, P. Saccardoi, belonging to the section Pucciniopsis, parasitic 
on the leaves of Goodenia geniculata in South Australia. Among the 
normal teleutospores occur others, unicellular or tricellular, sometimes 
of enormous size, and, occasionally, singular hornlike branched spores, 
resembling those of Phragmidium ohtusum. 
Autobasidiomycetes.1T — Following up his account of the first family, 
the Dacryomycetes, Herr 0. Brefeld now proceeds to a description of 
the other families of this group of Fungi. 
* CR. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique, 1889, pp. 128-33. 
t Verhandl. K.K. Zool.-Bot. Gesell. Wien, xxxix. (1889) pp. 617-22. 
X Deutsch. Bot. Monatensch., 1889, 2 pp. See Bot. Centralbl., xli. (1890) 
p. 299. Cf. this Journal, 1889, p. 795. 
§ ‘ Die Micro-organismen der Gahrungsiiidustrie,’ 2nd edition, Berlin. See 
Annales de Micrographie, ii. (1890) pp. 252-3. 
II Hedwigia, xxviii. (1889) pp. 362-3. 
‘Unters. a. d. Gesammtgebiete d. Mykologie,’ Heft 8, Leipzig, 1889, 307 pp. 
and 12 pis. See Bot. Centralbl., xli, (1890) pp. 51 and 87. Cf. this Journal, 1888, p. 778. 
