ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
79 
Myelophycus, a new Genus of Phaeosporese.* * * § — For a sea-weed from 
Japan Herr F. B. Kjellman establishes the new genus Myelophycus 
belonging to the family Encoeliaceae. The fronds have the habit of 
Scytosiphon , but the internal structure of Cliordaria. 
Fungi. 
Cirrhoid Filaments in a Fungus.f — M. E. Boudier records the obser- 
vation of remarkable prehensile filaments in Sepultaria Sunneriana. 
These have nothing to do with the ascogone in the Sphseriacem or the 
spiral branches connected with the perithece in Eurotium , or those which 
accompany the oogone in Achlya , but are analogous in function to 
tendrils in the higher plants. They are found on ordinary filaments 
beneath the surface of the soil, especially when the fungus grows in a 
gravelly soil, appearing first as protuberances, which then elongate 
into branches, and these finally coil, and embrace, in the manner of a 
tendril, any other filament with which they come into contact. These 
cirrhoid filaments are usually simple and septated, but sometimes 
branch. 
Action of Mould-Fungi 'on Albumen.f — M. E. Marchal has tested 
the changes produced in a 10 per cent, solution of white of egg, by the 
growth of different kinds of mould-fungus. A number of species belong- 
ing to the genera Penicillium, Mucor , Botrytis, Acrostalagmus, Asper- 
gillus , Cephalothecium , Circinella , Fusoma , Isaria , possess the power of 
decomposing albumen, appropriating the carbon and nitrogen; while 
other species of the same genera displayed this property but feebly, and 
others produced only yeast-forms. In all cases where decomposition 
takes place, even when only yeast-forms are produced, the albumen is 
transformed into ammonia. In no case could a production of nitric acid 
be detected. The species which produced the most rapid decomposition 
were Aspergillus terricola and Cephalothecium roseum. 
Culture of Saprolegniacese.§ — Herr A. Maurizio describes the mode 
of cultivating various Saprolegniaceae, and discusses the bearings of the 
result on the distinctness of the species. Two new species are described, 
Saprolegnia rhsetica , intermediate between S. monilifera and hypogyna , and 
Achlya aplanes , intermediate between A. oblongata and prolifera . The 
five forms of Saprolegnia characterized by hypogynous antherids, and 
included by Pringsheim under S. ferax var. prolifera , are made into a 
single distinct species, and the hypogynous position of the antherid is 
explained as a result of the prolification which is so common in the 
genus. The conids of S. rhsetica may, under certain circumstances, be 
transformed into sporanges. In A. aplanes the spores frequently ger- 
minate within the sporange ; no zoospores were observed. The generic 
distinction between Achlya and Aplanes can hardly be maintained. 
* Bih. K. Svensk. Vetensk.-Akad. Hand!, xviii. (1893) 12 pp. and 1 pi. See 
Grevillea, xxii. (1894) p. 117. 
f Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xli. (1894) pp. 371-5 (1 fig.). 
t Bull. Soc. Beige Micr., 1893. See Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xli. (1S94) Kev. 
Bibl., p. 403. 
§ Flora, lxxix. (1894) Erganzungsbd., pp. 109-58 (3 pis.). 
