ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
Ill 
occurrence of pycnids or spermogones, with pycnospores or spermatia, 
accompanying the tufts of teleutospores. 
Volutella.* * * § — Dr. D. Saccardo gives some particulars regarding the 
life-history of this genus, and claims to have established the specific 
identity of V. stipitata with V. ciliata , both parasitic on a Phytolacca. 
Lichen-Acids.f — Herr 0. Hesse has isolated from various lichens the 
following acids, of which the composition and properties are given : — 
Usnic acid and atranorin, from several species ; chrysocetraric acid from 
Cetraria juniperina and C. pinastri ; cetrapinic acid from C. pinastri ; 
rhizocarpic, rhizocarpinic, and psoromic acids from J Rhizocarpon geographi- 
cum ; divaricatic acid from Evernia divaricata ; sordidasic acid from 
Lecanora sordida ; caperatic acid from Parmelia caperata ; physcion 
from Xanthoria parietina and other lichens. 
Jenmania, a new Genus of Lichens4 — Under the name Jenmania 
Goebelii g. et sp. n., Herr W. Wachter describes a lichen from British 
Guiana belonging to the homoomerous forms, growing in water and with 
the habit of an alga. There is no distinct differentiation of cortical and 
medullary layers. The algal constituent consists of blue-green gonids 
belonging to the genus Chroococcus. 
Nucleus of the Saccharomycetes.§ — According to Mr. H. Wager 
the nucleus of Saccharomyces cerevisise consists, in the majority of cases, 
of a homogeneous substance, spherical in shape, placed between the 
cell-wall and the vacuole, and consisting of deeply staining granules 
imbedded in a slightly less stainable matrix. The process of budding in 
a yeast-cell is accompanied by direct division of the nucleus ; the division 
taking place, not in the mother-cell, but in the neck joining it to the 
daughter-cell. When a cell of S. cerevisise is about to sporulate, the 
nucleus is found in the centre of the cell. When dividing, its outline 
becomes irregular, and the granules arrange themselves in the form of a 
short rod ; these granules separate into two groups, and each group 
becomes a nucleus. The two nuclei thus formed divide again, each of 
these four nuclei becoming the nucleus of a spore. A small quantity of 
l^rotoplasm accumulates round each nucleus, membranes appear, and 
four spores are thus formed, standing in the remainder of the protoplasm, 
from which ultimately the thick spore-membranes are produced. 
Nematospora, a new Genus of Saccharomycetes.|| — Dr. Y. Peglion 
has examined the diseased hazel-nuts known in the South of Italy by 
the term ammannate, and finds them to be characterised by the presence 
of a large number of lysigenous cavities scattered through the tissue of 
the cotyledons. The tissue surrounding these cavities is infected with 
spores enclosed in asci, eight in each ascus. The organism to which 
these belong can be readily cultivated on the ordinary nutrient sub- 
strata. It is described by the author under the name Nematospora 
Coryli g. et sp. n., the genus being distinguished from other genera of 
* Malpighia, xi. (1897) pp. 225-9 (1 pi.). 
f Ber. Deutsch. Chem. Gesell., xxx. (1897) Heft 4. See Bot. Centralbl., lxxii. 
(1897) p. 102. 
X Flora, lxxxiv. (1897) Erganzbd., pp. 349-51 (3 figs.). 
§ Rep. Brit. Ass., 1897 (Toronto). See Nature, lvi. (1897) p. 600. 
|| Atti r. Accad. Lincei, vi. (1897) pp. 276-8. 
