724 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
varietal characters in mushrooms. Connoisseurs are said to be able 
to pick out their favourite dainties from among the five hundred 
baskets brought daily to the Marche aux Halles. The growers can re- 
tain the esteemed characters as long as they can keep the same spawn or 
mycele in health. But the authors have proved that the varieties in 
question can also be reared from the spores. Five varieties have thus 
been proved constant when reared from spore-cultures. The whole 
period requires 6-7 months. Certain features, such as the colour of 
the pileus, its scaly or fibrillar appearance, the presence of a more or 
less developed velum, are hereditary characters of definite stability. 
But, as in the ordinary culture, so in that from spores, there are varia- 
tions of size and consistence and the like. It is pointed out that arti- 
ficial selection may do much in the future if applied to the races of 
Psalliota. 
Vascular Hyphse in the Autobasidiomycetes.* — From an examina- 
tion of 55 species belonging to 33 genera of Clavarieae, Polyporeae, 
Agaricineae, Tulostomeae, Sclerodermaceae, Lycoperdaceae, Hymenogas- 
treae, Nidularieae, Spliaeroboleae, and Phalloideas, M. C. Van Bambeke 
states that, from a morphological point of view, the mycele may assume 
the four following different forms : — (1) nematoid, filamentous, or 
floccose ; (2) membranous ; (3) spartioid or cord-like ; (4) pseudorhizoid, 
or radiciform mycelial formations. The following are the results of his 
observations on the vascular hyphse. 
They are constantly present in the mycele of the Autobasidiomycetes. 
Their number, distribution, size, and form differ according to the various 
forms of mycele in which they occur ; they are especially abundant in 
the spartioid form. With rare exceptions their size exceeds that of the 
ordinary hyphse. The usual form is cylindrical, but considerable varia- 
tions occur. The vascular hypha consists of a thin extensible and 
elastic envelope, the contents of which are usually homogeneous and 
strongly refringent, but sometimes granular. Nuclei could sometimes 
be detected lodged in a parietal layer of protoplasm. There are usually 
numerous septa. The chemical composition of the contents varies. 
The vascular liyphae constitute a conducting apparatus of great import- 
ance to fungi in the distribution of nutritive substances. 
Parasitic Hymenogaster.f — Sig. F. Cavara describes a new species 
of Hymenogaster , H. cerebellum , which appears to carry on, under 
certain conditions, a parasitic existence on the roots of Casuarineae and 
Myrtaceae, similar to that already described in the case of some Tuber- 
acese and Elaphomycetes. 
Selonosporium aquseductum (Musk-Fungus)4 — M. R. Moniez 
finds this fungus very abundantly in the drinking water of Lille, which 
is characterized by a large quantity of lime-salts and of organic sub- 
stances. It forms on the bottom cock’s-comb-like bodies composed of 
interwoven hypbae, with the characteristic spores on their surface, and 
* Bull. Acad. Boy. Sci. Belg., xxvii. (1894) pp. 492-4. Cf. this Journal, 1892, 
p. 526. 
f Atti E. 1st. Bot. Univ. Pavia, iii. (1893) 18 pp. andl pi. See Bot. Centralbl., 
lix. (1894) p. 15. 
X P.ev. Mycol., 1893, pp. 140-5. See Bot. Centralbl., lix. (1894) p. 171. 
