98 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
same reactions, this act of fusion cannot be regarded as a time process of 
fertilisation. 
Sexual Reproduction in the Basidiomycetes.* — M. P. A. Dangeard 
confirms his previous statements on this subject from the result of a 
series of observations on the various families of Basidiomycetes — Tremel- 
lineae, Discomycetes, Thelephoreae, Agaricineae, Hydnaceae, Polyporeae — 
in all of which a coalescence of nuclei takes place, which he regards as of 
a sexual character. The basid is an “ oospore ” ; and, as in the Uredineae 
and Ustilagineae, its protoplasm, enclosing a sexual nucleus, gives birth 
to an indefinite number of sporids v 
Protobasidiomycetes.'l' — From researches in Brazil Herr A. Mbller 
adds greatly to our knowledge of this order of Fungi. He proposes to 
classify them under six families, viz.: — (1) Auriculariaceae ; basids sep- 
tated horizontally, four-spoied ; divided into Stypinelleae, Platygloeeae, and 
Auricularieae ; (2) Uredineae ; (3) Pilacraceae ; basids septated horizon- 
tally, in angiocarpous receptacles ; (4) Sirobasidiace^e, fam. n. ; basids 
formed in long chains behind one another on the same mycelial filament; 
receptacle rudimentary; (5) Tremellaceae; basids divided by vertical 
walls into four cells arranged in a cross ; divided into Stypelleae, 
Exidiopsideae, Tremellineae, Protopolyporeae, and Protohydneae ; (6) 
Hyaloriaoe^e, fam. n. ; with basids resembling those of the Tremellineae, 
but angiocarpous receptacle like that of the Pilacreae. 
Many new species and several new genera are described. Saccoblastia 
is a new genus of Stypinelleae, forming an irregular loose white weft of 
hyphae, scarcely 1 mm. thick, on rotten wood and bark ; basids solitary 
and free ; the supporting cell of the basid bears a lateral vesicular sac, 
the contents of which are used up in the formation of the basid, and 
migrate completely into it. In Jola g. n. (Platyglceeae), the basids are 
arranged in a more or less smooth hymenium resembling that of Thele- 
phora ; receptacle composed of a soft waxy or slimy incrustation fixed to 
the substratum. The Protopolyporeae are founded on a new genus Pro- 
tomerulius, externally resembling Merulius , but with the basids of the 
Tremellineae ; the Protohydneae on Protohydnum g. n., with .resupinate 
waxy receptacle, densely clothed with obtusely conical projections covered 
by the hymenium. The Hyaloriaceae are founded on Hyaloria g. n. 
with the following diagnosis: — Gelatinous stalked fungi growing in 
tufts or clusters ; the basids, sterigmas, and spores buried in a weft of 
sterile filaments, not allowing an immediate escape of the spores, 
which are not violently thrown out. 
The Sirobasidieae form an interesting link between the Auricularieae 
and the Tremellineae in the form of their basids. The Protobasidio- 
mycetes may be arranged under two series, one ascending from the 
Stypinelleae to the Auricularieae, the other from the Sirobasidiaceae to 
the Tremellaceae. 
A new genus Henninysia is also established, belonging to the Poly- 
poreae. 
* Le Botaniste (Dangeard), iv. (1895) pp. 119-81 (24 figs.). Cf. this Journal, 
1895, p. 465. 
f Bot. Mittheil. a. d. Tropen (Seliimper), Heft 8, 1895 (179 and xix. pp. and 
6 pis.). 
