ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
377 
phyta) : — Eudorina elegans , Phacotus lenticularis , Euglena sanguined , 
Phacus longicaudus, Diet yosphseri um Ehrenbergianum , Paphidium poly - 
morphum, Scenedesmus dimorphus , Sciadium Arbuscula, Coelastrum micro - 
porum, Sorastrum echinatum, Pleurotsenium Trabecula , Artlirodesmus con- 
verges. Wolle’s Eudorina stagnalis lie states to be indistinguishable 
from E. elegans. Of Pliacotus lenticularis he describes two new varieties, 
P. globuJosus and spinifer. Of Dictyosphserium there are three distinct 
species, D. Ehrenbergianum , reniforme, and Hitchcocldi ; D. pulchellum 
and globosum are forms of the first, Dimorphococcus cordatus of the second 
of these. Paphidium falcula and convolutum must be united with P. poly- 
morphum. The cells of Sciadium Arbuscula contain a true chloropliore, 
having the form of about five discs running obliquely across the cell, 
corresponding to the six swarm-spores which are produced in each cell. 
The genus appears to be nearly related to Ophiocytium and Actidesmium. 
The propagation of Coelastrum microporum was followed in its various 
stages. In Pleurotsenium Trabecula the author states that there are 
always as many as ten, and usually twelve longitudinal bands of chloro- 
phyll. In Artlirodesmus the spines are simply prolongations of the cell- 
membrane. 
Fungi. 
Ferment in Fungi.* * * § — M. E. Bourquelot finds, in 23 species of fungi 
parasitic on living trees or growing on dead wood, a soluble ferment, 
which has the power of decomposing glucosides such as amygdalin, 
salicin, and coniferin. It appears probable that, by the aid of this 
ferment, the fungi are able to utilize as food the various glucosides 
present in the bark, cambium, and woody tissues of the tree. No similar 
ferment was obtained from nine species of fungi growing on the soil. 
The same author has further investigated f the inverting power of 
Aspergillus niger on a nutrient solution containing sugar, and finds that 
the following ferments have been produced : — (1) invertin, (2) maltase, 
(transforming maltose into glucose), (3) trehalase (changing trehalose 
into glucose), (4) emulsin, (5) inulase (transforming inulin into levulose), 
(6) diastase, (7) albumen-ferments, e. g. trypsin and pepsin. 
Fungi which Feed on Arsenic. | — Herr S. Csapodi records the re- 
markable fact that several mould-fungi, especially Mucor Mucedo, will 
grow on solid compounds of arsenic, dissolving them, and giving off 
arsenical vapours. 
Lagenidium and Chytridiacege.§ — M. E. de Wihleman gives a re- 
vised monograph of the species of Lagenidium , from characters derived 
in great part from the oosperm. A new species is described, L. Closterii , 
parasitic on Closterium striolatum. Two new species of Cliytridiaceae 
are described : — Cladochytrium Hippuridis on Hippuris vulgaris , and 
Myzocytium megastomum on various desmids. 
* Comptes Rendus, cxvii. (1893) pp. 383-6. 
f Bull. Soc. Mycol. France, 1893, p. 230. See Bot. Centralbl., lvi. (1894) p. 200. 
j SB. K. Ungar. naturw. Gesell. Budapest, Oct. 11, 1893. See Bot. Centralbl., 
Ivii. (1894) p. 101. 
§ Aun. Soc. Beige Microscopic, xvii. (1893) pp. 42-63 (2 pis.). Cf. this Journal, 
1893, p. 765. 
