634 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
country village in France, both on men and other animals. They 
resembled intoxication rather than the effects of ergot. M. Prillieux 
found these results to be caused by a fungus, the mycele of which attacks 
the seed of the rye ; it resembles Dendrochium, but differs from that 
genus in the spores being produced in the interior of the branches. He 
names the fungus Endoconidium temulentum g. et sp. n., with the fol- 
lowing diagnosis of the genus: — Sporodochia pulvinata albida, sporo- 
phoris hyalinis ramosis; conidia hyalina rotundata, in interiore ramu- 
lorurn subinde generate et mox ex apice exsilientia. 
Assimilation in Lichens.* * * § — M. H. Jumelle distinguishes three series 
of lichens in relation to their powers of assimilation. The first includes 
those in which the thallus is well developed and green or greenish 
(ex. Peltigera canina, Physcia ciliaris, &c.), the assimilation being par- 
ticularly active. In the second series the thallus is still well developed, 
but is of various tints (ex. TJmbilicaria pustulata, Parmelia caperatd ) ; 
the process of assimilation is here still evident. Finally, we have the 
crustaceous lichens (ex. Lecanora hsematostoma , Lecidea super ans), in 
which assimilation is feeble. The conclusion is thus arrived at that 
all lichens are able, when the conditions are favourable, to decompose 
carbonic acid gas, gaining carbon thereby. 
Dependence of Lichens on their Substratum.t — Herr A. Zahl- 
bruckner points out the difference between the lichens which inhabit 
siliceous primary and those which inhabit calcareous rocks. As a 
general rule also, different species of lichens are found on the different 
primary rocks — granite, gneiss, quartz, basalt, serpentine, &c. ; and the 
same is true of chalk and limestone. The first of these two groups of 
lichens is characterized in general by bright colour, the second by 
various shades of grey and yellow. 
Lichens of the Mulberry.! — According to M. G. Hallauer, the cor- 
puscles which cause pebrine in the silkworm are masses of the “ anthero- 
zoids ” (pollinoids) of the lichens which infest the mulberry-tree. When 
these lichens grow on the leaves they are harmless to the tree itself ; 
but when they cover the branches or trunk, they are exceedingly preju- 
dicial to the next crop of leaves. 
Structure of Uredineae.§ — Herr P. Dietel has investigated several 
points in connection with the Uredineae, especially the structure of the 
spore-membrane and the nature of the colouring matter of the spores. 
In many teleutospores the membrane consists, when mature, of 
three layers. From the history of their development, and from the 
behaviour of the different layers with nitric acid, the author shows 
that the outermost only must be regarded as exospore, both the inner 
layers belonging to the endospore, which arises as an excretion from 
the cell-contents. The germ-pores, which appear like bright spots on 
the membrane, perforate, in most species of Phragmidium , only the inner 
layer of the endospore; in many species of Puecinia, where there is 
* Comptes Rendus, cxii. (1891) pp. 888-91. 
t Mittheil Sect. f. Xaturkunde a. Oesterr. Touristen Club, ii., pp. 81-3. See 
Bot. Centralbl., xlvi. (1891) p. 229. 
Z Comptes Rendus, cxii. (1891) pp. 1280-3. 
§ Flora, lxxiv. (1891) pp. 140-59 (1 pi.). 
