668 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Receptacle of Mutinus.* — Herr E. Fischer describes the develop- 
ment of the receptacle of Mutinus caninus, and contrasts it with that 
of Ithyphallus impudicus, the two presenting important differences from 
their earliest stages, in the form of that portion of the tissue which is 
enclosed by the jelly of the volva, and in the first origin of the glebe. 
I. tenuis presents in these points an intermediate condition. Fischer’s 
observations still further widen the gap which separates the ClathreaB 
from the Pliallem. 
Histology of Pholiota.f — Herr B. Isatschenko states that a process 
of indirect nuclear division takes place in the cells of the pileus and 
stipe of Pholiota aurea. The chromatin substance collects in the equator 
of the nucleus and divides into two nearly equal portions, in which a few 
chromosomes can be detected united into threads by achromatin sub- 
stance. These threads gradually approach the poles of the nucleus. 
The nucleus meanwhile becomes constricted in the middle. In the 
newly formed daughter-nuclei the chromatin substance is first deposited 
in the periphery, becoming subsequently more or less uniformly distri- 
buted in the centre of the nucleus. About the same time a central 
chromatin granule makes its appearance, but no true nucleole. The 
microsomes which abound in all the cells of the receptacle consist partly 
of oil, partly of albuminoids, partly of bodies resembling chromatin 
granules ; the albuminoid microsomes of a crystalline character are 
especially noteworthy. The surface of the pileus is covered with pro- 
truding cells which contain resin, and are in direct connection with the 
resin -passages of the receptacle. 
Maturation of Soft Cheese.J — M. E. Marckal has studied the micro- 
biology of the maturation of soft cheese. Two cheeses much made in 
Belgium, the “Limburger ” and the “ Cassette” or strong cheese, were 
selected for examination. In the latter Oospora lactis was chiefly found, 
though there were besides, especially on the surface, Oospora Crustacea 
and another chocolate-coloured species of Oospora. Oospora lactis 
appears to play an important part in the ripening of soft cheese, and 
the way the cheese is made favours the growth of the Oidium fungus, 
and at the same time is unfavourable to the development of bacteria. 
In the Limburger cheese a copious bacterial flora was encountered 
and four species are specially noted : — (1) a liquefying bacillus ( Bac . a) ; 
(2) a non-liquefying bacillus (Bac. /3) ; (3) a yeast ; (4) Oospora lactis. 
Bac. ft is a lactic acid ferment. The yeast exercises a feeble action 
on the milk. Bac. a vigorously attacks casein, converting almost all 
the insoluble casein into the soluble form with the formation of ammonia 
and fatty acids, and it must therefore be regarded as one of the chief 
factors in the ripening of the cheese. Bac. a, which is probably a species 
of Tyrothrix Duclaux, appears to be peculiar to this kind of cheese, for 
it is rarely met with in hard cheese or in other kinds of soft cheese. 
* Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., xiii. (1895) pp. 128-37 (1 pi.). 
f SB. Naturf, Gesell. St. Petersburg, Feb. 15 (27), 1895. See Bot. Centralbl., 
Ixiii. (1895) p. 103. 
t Ann. Soc. Beige de Microscopie, xix. (1895). See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., 2 te Abt., i. (1895) pp. 506-7. Cf. this Journal, ante, pp. 468, 569. 
