ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
465 
essentially from tlie Saccharomycetes in the absence of any process of 
budding. The author excludes from the genus the filamentous forms 
which have sometimes been placed in it. 
Sexual Reproduction in the Basidiomycetes.* * * § — M. P. A. Dangeard 
claims to have detected the mode of sexual reproduction in Tremella 
mesenterica as a type of the Basidiomycetes. The process is similar to 
that which takes place in the Ustilagineae,! the “ oospore ” being the 
young basid. Each “ oospore ” contains two nuclei, which are distinctly 
nucleolated. Immediately after the coalescence of the two nuclei, the 
“oospore” begins to enlarge, ultimately attaining a considerable size. 
The combined nucleus undergoes two successive bipartitions, thus form- 
ing an internal promycele. Each of the four cells so formed puts out 
a germinating tube, at the apex of which is developed the spore, and 
into this spore the nucleus finally finds its way. 
Development and Fertilisation of the Tuberacese.f — M. P. A. 
Dangeard takes the common truffle as a type of the life-history of the 
Perisporiacem and Tuberaceae. The mycele forms a rhizomorph round the 
roots of the oak, which is necessary for the development of the truffle, 
since the latter derives its nutritive reserve-substances chiefly from the 
roots of the former. The rhizomorph is of two kinds — colourless, 
and brown ; the former only contains protoplasm and displays vital 
activity. Sexual reproduction takes place, as in other Ascomycetes, by 
the coalescence of two sexual cells, each containing two nuclei, the 
process resulting in the development of the asci. The spores, when 
mature, contain numerous nuclear elements resulting from repeated 
bipartition of a single original nucleus. 
Eomyces Crieanus g. et sp. n.§ — Prof. F. Ludwig has found in the 
brown flux from JEsculus Hippocastanum colourless colonies of spherical 
cells with tetrahedral arrangement, resembling the tetrads of some yeast 
endospores, but showing themselves to be of a much lower organisation 
by their simple and peculiar reproduction. The diameter of the cells is 
usually 5-7 /x, occasionally 3 /x, and these subdivide so that the daughter- 
cells form the corners of a tetrad. The daughter-cells round themselves 
off so that they appear free, though usually they remain connected. 
Indeed, several generations of these tetrapartite subdivided cells may be 
seen joined together. There is no external cell-membrane ; and this 
serves to distinguish Eomyces from Prototheca , to which it is allied. 
Morphology and Systematic Position of the Tubercle Fungus.!] — 
According to Mr. A. C. Jones, there is a greater probability that the 
exciting cause of tubercle is a phase in the life-history of some higher 
pleomorphic fungus than that it is, according to the accepted notion, 
an essentially parasitic organism, transferable only from animal to animal, 
and without vegetative existence outside the animal body. The author 
* Le Botaniste (Dangeard), iv. (1895) pp. 88-90. 
t Cf. this Journal, 1894, p. 719. 
t Le Botaniste (Dangeard), iv. (1895) pp. 63-87 (7 figs.). 
§ Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk , xvi. (1894) pp. 905-8 (1 fig.). Cf. this 
Journal, 1894, p. 604. 
|| Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., l te Abt. xvii. (1895) pp. 1-16, 70-6 
(1 pi., 23 figs.). 
