190 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Bary, but in an actual fusion of male and female nuclei. Tlie mode of 
life of the parasites, and the influence exerted on the host-plants, are 
described in detail. 
Classification of Mucorini.* * * § — Mr. Pound proposes the arrangement 
of the American Mucorini under 5 groups as follows : — 1. Mucorem 
i Eumucorese, Rhizopese. Thamnidiese, Piloboleae) ; 2. Mortierellea3 
Mortierella , Herpocladium , Carnoya) ; 3. Choanephoreae ( ChoanepJiora ) ; 
4. Chaetocladieae (CTisetocladium) ; 5. Cephalideae ( Piptocephalis , Syn - 
ceplialis , Syncephalastruni). 
Natural Dissemination of Wine- Yeasts. j— M. L. Boutroux records 
an experiment made in 1884, the results of which favour the views of 
Berlese as to the dissemination of ferments. He took 116 tubes, and 
into these put untouched quite ripe grapes, and into 32 tubes were 
placed grapes which had been soiled by insects. Into each tube pure 
wine must was passed, and the tubes incubated at 30°. Of the 32 
tubes containing grapes contaminated by insects, 30 fermented, and the 
remaining two were found to contain Saccharomyces. Of the 116 tubes 
only one fermented. Examination showed that in most cases the ferment 
was S. apiculatus, but the single instance among the 116 untouched 
grapes was found to be a true wine ferment. Hence it seems more 
probable that wine-yeasts are disseminated by insects than by the air ; 
and this explanation also takes into account the sudden appearance of 
wine ferments at the time when the grapes aro ripe. 
Germinating Power of the Winter-spores of IJredine8e4 — Prof. J. 
Eriksson states that, in the case of the tJredinese submitted to investi- 
gation — species of Puccinia , chiefly P. coronata and graminis — the hiber- 
nating spores are capable of germinating only in the spring immediately 
following the autumn in which they are produced. 
Fungi of Ambergris.§ — M. H. Beauregard gives a detailed account 
of the fungi found in ambergris ; among the most frequent of which is 
one belonging to the Mucedinese, to which he gives the name Sterigmato- 
cystis ambari sp. n. ; it is a polymorphic species. Among the Schizc- 
mycetes is a new species of Spirillum, named S. recti PJiyseteris, resembling 
B. coli commune, but not displaying the indol reaction, and destitute 
of the power of producing lactic fermentation. It liquefies gelatin, but 
only at the point of inoculation. It was cultivated easily on bouillon- 
peptone. It is readily stained, but not by Gram’s method. 
Fungi of Rotten Fruit. ji — Dr. J. Behrens has investigated the mould 
fungi which cause the rotting of fruit — apples, pears, plums, cherries, 
apricots, currants, grapes, tomatoes, walnuts, &c. — and finds them to be 
Penicillium glaucum, P. luteum, Mucor stolonifer , Botrytis vulgaris, and 
Oidium fructigenum. The Botrytis differs from the others in attacking 
all parts of the plant, producing a poison which is fatal to living proto- 
* Minnesota Bot. Studies, ix. (1894) p. 87. See Bonnier’s Rev. Gen. de Bot., x. 
(1898) p. 490. 
t Comptes Rendus, cxxvii. (1898) pp. 1033-6. Of. this Journal, 1898, pp. 112, 572. 
t Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., 2 te Abth., iv. (1898) pp. 376-88, 427-32. 
§ Ann. de Micrographie, x. (1898) pp. 241-78 (1 pi.). 
|| Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., 2 te Abth., iv. (1898) pp. 514-22, 547-53, 577-S5, 
635-44, 700-6, 739-46, 770-7. 
