214 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Ophiobolus causing Take-all of Wheat. — H. M. Fitzpatrick, 
H. E. Thomas and R. S. Kirby ( Mycologia , 1922, 14, 30-7, 1 pi., 
1 fig.)* The minute Pyrenomycete causing a disease known in Europe 
and Australia, and now discovered in America, is identical with 
Ophiobolus graminis and with a previously described Sphseria cariceti. 
The authors describe its occurrence on the host plants (wheat, barley, 
rye and various wild grasses). The mycelium permeates the roots of the 
host. The perithecia develop on the crown of the plant. A. L. S 
Lichens. 
Notes on Lichens from Jamaica. — Charles C. Plitt (. Bryologist , 
1921, 24, 60-4). The writer spent six weeks at the Government 
Laboratory on the summit of Cinchona Hill, Jamaica. He devoted his 
attention chiefly to lichens, and collected during that time about 200 
different lichen species. He comments on the wealth of material and 
the luxuriance of the plants, and gives an account of the conditions of 
terrain and of climate that favour lichen growth. He concludes that 
lichens are peculiarly sun plants, as they were much less abundant in 
shaded areas. The competition for place between the different forms 
was very keen, but lichens, he found, held their own in the struggle. 
“ Sticta and Leptogium species especially spread their thalli with the least 
unconcern over hepatics and mosses/’ A first account is given of the 
fruticose forms and of the many Gladonise. He also found Sphserophorus 
compressus varying in colour from coral-red to almost pure white. 
A. Lorrain Smith. 
Thallus of the Genus Parmelia. — John Shirley ( Proc . Roy. Soc. 
Tasmania , 1919, 53-68, 5 pis.). The author gives a general account 
of structure, noting especially the presence of spores or of openings in 
the thallus ; he has concluded from experiments he has made that the 
cyphellm of Stictaceae, etc., are not only for aeration but are means 
whereby water and food pass into the tissues. He has also given 
attention to the hyphae, the cortex and the rhizoids. He traces the 
connexion of Parmelia with other genera, and considers that Sticta and 
Lobar ia should form part of the Parmeliaceas. The plates give photo- 
graphic illustrations of structure, of the pores to be found in Parmelia , 
of spermagonia, and of apothecia. A. L. S. 
Destruction of Mosses by Lichens. — Frank P. McWhorter 
(■ Bot . Gaz ., 1921, 72 , 321-5, 1 pi.). The writer proposes to emphasize 
the accuracy of Bruce Fink’s definition of lichens : — “ A lichen is a 
fungus which lives during all or part of its life in parasitic relation 
with an algal host, and also sustains a relation with an organic or 
inorganic substratum.” He gives the case of various lichens — Gladonise , 
Phy seise, Amphiloma , etc. — that overrun and destroy moss colonies. 
The destruction he found was partly due to parasitism and partly to 
smothering. The development of lichens over the mosses explains the 
ecological sequence of first mosses, then lichens. A. L. S. 
Japan Lichens.— E. A. Wainio (Rot. Mag. Tokyo , 1921, 35 , 45- 
79). The lichens here listed and described were collected by A. Yasuda 
