450 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
article. The starch of the rice is found to be but little altered. It 
appears that the Chinese use arsenic acid in the preparation of ang- 
khak for keeping down bacteria and other fungi. The pigment, 
extracted from the rice by means of alcohol or chloroform, imparts a 
beautiful red colour to the solution, and after the solvent is driven off 
there remains an amorphous powder, but little soluble in water, though 
easily soluble in ether, acetic acid, aceton, alcohol, &c. Its chemical 
composition is not accurately determinable, but it is devoid of nitrogen, 
and is probably a derivative of anthrachinon. It melts at 50° C., but 
decomposes when heated higher. The alcoholic solution shows two 
absorption bands. 
New Genera of Uredineae. — Herr P. Dietel* establishes the three 
following new genera of Uredinem : — Masseeella , separated from Cronar- 
tium and founded on G. Capparidis ; Phakopsora, separated from 
Melampsora and founded on M. punctiformis ; Schizospora , nearly related 
to Puccinosira , founded on S. Mitragynes sp. n., parasitic on Mitragyne 
macrophylla from Sierra Leone. 
The same author | separates Melampsora Sori from that genus on the 
ground of the teleutospores resembling those of Goleosporium, in dividing, 
before the death of the leaves of the host-plant, into three or four super- 
posed cells. He proposes for the new genus the name Ochnospora. 
On Uromyces alpinus, parasitic on Bumex alpinus, Herr P. Magnus J 
founds the new genus Schroeteriaster, belonging to the Pucciniem. It 
presents some resemblance to Phalcospora, but does not belong, like that 
genus, to the Melampsoreae. It has no peridium or paraphyses ; the 
uredo-layer consists of flat tufts of sterigmas from which the stylospores 
are abstricted ; the uredospores have lateral germ-pores, the teleuto- 
spores are unicellular, usually more or less thickened at the apex, and 
have no distinct germ-pore. 
Parasitic Fungi. — Sig. A. Pizzigoni § maintains that the diseases of 
the potato known as dry and moist gangrene are due to different causes, 
the former being caused by the attacks of Fusisporium Solani alone, the 
latter by those of that fungus together with bacteria. 
Herr C. Wehmer || attributes the“ dry-rot” of the potato in all cases 
primarily to Fusarium Solani , though other fungi and bacteria may play 
a secondary part in the decay of the tuber. 
Mr. Y. TakahashiH identifies Ustilago virens with Tilletia Oryzse 
( Ustilaginoidea Oryzse ) ; and describes a new species of Tilletia i T. 
horrida , parasitic on rice in Japan. 
Mr. J. Omori, on ** the other hand, disputes the identification of 
TJstilago virens with Ustilaginoidea Oryzse , and considers that it should 
rather be placed under the genus Sphacelotheca. 
Rhizophidium and Phycomyces.ft — I n a new species of BhizopM- 
dium , parasitic on Cladophora , Sig. F. Morini points out three successive 
* Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., xiii. (1895) pp. 332-5 (2 figs.). 
f Tom. cit., pp. 401-2. X Op. cit., xiv. (1896) pp. 129-33 (1 pi.). 
§ Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital., iii. (1896) pp. 50-3. 
|| Ber. Deutseh. Bot. Gesell., xiv. (1896) pp. 101-7 (3 figs.). 
If Bot. Mag. (Tokyo), x. (1896) pp. 16-20 (1 pi.). 
** Tom. cit., pp. 29-30 (4 figs.). 
'ft Malpighia, x. (1896) pp. 72-92 (1 pi.). 
