ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
335 
the fructification of the Hydnei, Thelephorei, and Tomentellei. When 
occurring in any genus, they were found in all the species irrespectively 
of habit, and in both European and exotic examples. These organs are 
closely connected with the formation of the spores, the contents of the 
receptacles decreasing considerably when the spores mature, to such an 
extent that they frequently become empty. They frequently excrete 
crystals, as in Hymenochsete , and may then be termed cystids, serving 
also for the protection of the hymenium. They always possess a coating 
of protoplasm in which several nuclei are imbedded. They are formed 
in the young fructification as lateral branches of ordinary hyphse. They 
are generally connected with adjoining hyphse by anastomoses. The 
products usually transported by them are proteids and oils, but they 
sometimes contain other substances, as an acid in Thelephora. 
Tannin of Fungi.* — Herr 0 . Naumann has determined that tannin 
is absorbed, as such, by fungi from the organic substances on which they 
feed ; and this is especially the case with the Agaricaceee and Polyporeae ; 
in the case of the persistent fructification of the Polyporeae it appears to 
act as a food-material. The author does not regard tannin as a protection 
against the attacks of animals or parasitic plants. 
Fertilisation of Cystopus.f — Mr. H. Wager states that in the basids 
of Cystopus candidus no fusion of the nuclei is to be observed such as 
that which takes place in those of the Hymenomycetes. The oogone 
may contain more than one hundred nuclei. The actual process of fusion 
of the male and female nuclei in the production of the nucleus of the 
oosperm was observed. 
Cytology of the Saprolegniacese.J — The following are among the 
more important points noted by Prof. M. Hartog in his study of this 
subject. Protein granules are found everywhere in the protoplasm ; 
they are highly refractive and of irregular form. Cellulin bodies also 
occur, and are especially conspicuous in Leptomitus. The zoosporanges 
are almost always terminal, intercalary ones being formed only ex- 
ceptionally in old and irregular cultures. They are completed, except 
in Aplianomyces, by the formation of a short tubular process, through 
which the spores are destined to escape. The differentiation of the 
zoospores may be resolved into the following processes : — The accumula- 
tion and growth of the protoplasm round the nuclei ; the concentration 
of the protoplasm; the gradual separation of the zoospores in two 
successive stages; and their final fashioning. The zoospores always 
become encysted either within the sporange, at the mouth of the 
sporange, or in the medium after a short swarming. The so-called 
“ spermamoebse ” of Pringsheim are detached pseudopodes of the 
amoeboid oospheres. In his account of the mode of formation of the 
oospores, the author agrees in the main with De Bary. 
Mucor and Trichoderma. — M. J. Ray§ describes a species of 
Trichoderma as truly parasitic on a new species of Mucor which he 
* ‘ Ueb. d. Gerbstoff d. Pilze,’ Dresden, 1895, 44 pp. See Bot. Centralbl., lxv. 
.(1896) p. 254. t Ann. Bot., x. (1896) pp. 89-91. 
X Trans. R. Irish Acad., xxx. (1895) pp. 649 r 708 (2 pis. and 6 figs.). Cf. this 
Journal, ante, p. 216. § Oomptes Rendus, cxxii. (1896) pp. 44-6, 338-9. 
•2 A 2 
