ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
63 
to one another ; the nuclear membrane disappears ; the two nucleoles 
remain for a time distinct and then fuse together. The phenomenon 
presents no difference from that which occurs in some of the higher 
plants. 
Fungi. 
Soluble Proteo-hydrolytic Ferment in Fungi.* — In addition to the 
soluble ferments already detected in Fungi — invertin, trehalase, maltase, 
inulase, amylase, and emulsin — MM. E. Bourquelot and H. Herissey 
now find, in 20 out of 26 species of the larger Fungi examined — notably 
in Amanita muscaria and Clitocybe nebularis — a ferment capable of 
digesting casein, in some cases completely. The presence was proved 
of a soluble proteo-hydrolytic ferment analogous to trypsin, if not 
identical with it. 
Distribution of Starch affected by Fungi.t— Prof. B. D. ETalsted 
calls attention to the fact that in the parts of plants attacked by para- 
sitic fungi — whether the leaf, stem, or root — there is a considerable 
accumulation of starch, as was shown by the ordinary iodine test. 
Striking examples are furnished in the cases of Zea Mays attacked by 
Ustilago M&ydis, the turnip attacked by Plasmodiophora Brassicse, and 
in the tubercles formed by Mhizobium Leguminosarum in the roots of 
Leguminosee. It is probably due to increased respiration, as in the 
parts of plants that have been wounded. 
Tropical Fungi.J — Herr C. Holtermann has made a number of 
interesting mycological observations in Ceylon, Java, Borneo, and the 
Straits Settlements. 
To the small number of forms of the Hemiasci, intermediate between 
the Zygomycetes and the Ascomycetes, he adds two new genera. Oscar- 
brefeldia pellucida g. et sp. n. was found in a mucilaginous matrix at 
Buitenzorg. It is distinguished by its septated light brown or nearly 
wliite mycelial filaments, at the apex of which are seated large conids, 
which are often replaced by sporanges containing a very variable number 
of spores, between 1 and 70. The author asserts that the sporanges 
contain no true nuclei, the spore-division being quite independent of any 
such structures. 
Conidiscus paradoxus g. et sp. n. w r as found in similar situations. 
The mycele is copiously branched and septated, and produces conids 
which havo the power of becoming transformed into sporanges. The 
conidiophores vary enormously in form, and the number of spores in a 
sporange, and the mode of their attachment, are also subject to great 
variation. The sporanges are simply conids w’hich form spores endo- 
genously. 
In the Auriculariem, he finds the number of cells of which the basids 
are formed to be variable. A new genus is founded on Tjibodasia pezi- 
zoides g. et sp. n., in which the receptacle, instead of being gelatinous, 
is of a wax-like consistence and resembles that of a Peziza. The fertile 
* Comptes Rendus, cxxyii. (1898) pp. 666-9. Cf. this Journal, 1S96, p. 656. 
t Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xxv. (1898) pp. 573-9. 
X Mykol. Unters. a. d. Tropen, Berlin, 1898, viii. and 122 pp, (12 pis.). 
