402 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
gerens ; hymenium utrumque labiis duobus consimilibus connivi-incurvis 
praeditum ; parapliyses connexm ; sporae hyalinae, transversim divisae. 
Red Fermenting Fungus.* — Herr E. Kramer describes a fungus 
which produces a red colour in the fermentation of wine-must. It con- 
sists chiefly of roundish or oval cells, from 2 • 7-3 ■ 5 p in length, rarely 
more than three united together. On a solid nutrient medium the cells 
are enveloped in a gelatinous excretion, very soluble in water. The cells 
have a moderately thick cell-wall, and contain a round strongly re- 
fringent drop of oil. No formation of spores was observed. The red 
pigment appears only in old cells, more or less exposed to the air. It 
disappears immediately on application of water, dilute acids, or alkalies. 
It ferments dextrose readily; saccharose is first inverted, then fer- 
mented ; maltose is readily fermented, but not lactose. 
Spores of Uredinese-t — Herr P. Magnus adduces arguments in 
favour of the view that the uredospores of the Uredineae have developed 
out of teleutospores in consequence of their better adaptation for ger- 
mination and dissemination on the most favourable host-plants. Those 
species in which there are no uredospores have not lost, but, on the 
contrary, have never acquired the property of forming them. Uredo- 
spores differ from uromyces-spores in three points : — their wall is 
thinner, and is always provided with bristly warts ; instead of a single 
apical germ-pore they have a transverse band of them ; and as soon as 
they are mature, they put out their germ-filament which penetrates the 
host-plant. Between typical uredospores and teleutospores the author 
describes intermediate forms occurring in a large number of different 
species, as also between uromyccs- and uredospores. In Uromyces 
scutellatus the uredospores are formed at the same time as the teleuto- 
spores, instead of preceding them in their appearance, as is usually 
the case. 
Indian Uredineae.J — The late Dr. A. Barclay gives the life-history 
of Puccinia coronata var. himalensis, including the aecidial, the uredo-, 
and the teleutospore-stages. The former occurs on Bhamnus dahuricus, 
the two latter on several grasses, Bracliypodium sylvaticum, Piptatherum 
holciforme, and Festuca gigantea. 
A new species is also described, Puccinia Jasmini- Chrysopogonis, the 
secidium of which occurs on Jasminum humile, the uredo- and teleuto- 
spore-forms on Chrysopogon Gryllus. 
In another paper § Dr. Barclay traces the connection between the 
failure of corn-crops in India and the climatic conditions favourable to 
the luxuriant growth of rust and mildew, to the attacks of which he con- 
siders a large proportion of the destruction of the crops is due. The 
most destructive parasite is not, however, Puccinia graminis, but P. 
rubigo-vera, the life-history of which in India is but very imperfectly 
known, and may possibly be quite different from that in Europe, where 
the aecidio-form occurs on various species of Borragineae. It appears to 
* Oesterr. Landwirthsch. Centralbl., i. (1891) pp. 39-45. See Bot. Centralbl., 
1891, Beih., p. 413. 
t Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., ix. (1891) Gen.-Versamml. Heft, pp. 85-92 (1 pi ). 
% Tians. Linn. Soc. Lond., iii. (1891) pp. 227-42 (1 pi ). Cf. this Journal, 1891, 
p. 335. § Journ. of Bot., xxx. (1892) pp. 1-8, 40-9 (1 pi. and 2 tables). 
