NOTICES OF BOOKS AND PAPERS. 
TJEBER DIE CULTUR FLECHTENBILDENDER AS- 
COMYCETEN OHNE ALGEN : von ALFRED MOEL- 
LER. (Untersuchungen aus d. bot. Inst. d. Kbnigl. Akad. zu 
Miinster-in-Westfalen.) 8vo. Pp. 52. 
In this paper the author gives the results of cultures of the spores of 
a number of crustaceous lichens which in several respects form a 
valuable contribution to our knowledge of the development of the 
lichen-thallus. The paper begins with a well-written summary of the 
views of previous writers on the nature of lichens, and the results of 
their cultures of spores and gonidia. Believing that little more light 
on this much-discussed subject can be obtained by cultures of gonidia 
alone, or by attempts to produce lichens synthetically by the use of 
gonidia and spores, he turned his attention to the culture of spores in 
suitable nourishing media. The species studied were Lecanora sub- 
fusca , L., Thelotrema lepadinum , Ach., Pertusaria communis , D. C., 
Buellia punctiformis , Hoffm., Lecidella enteroleuca , Opegrapha sub- 
siderella , Nyl., 0 . vulgata^ Ach., O. varia , Pers., Gr aphis scripta, L., Ar- 
thonia vulgaris , Schaer., Calicium parietinum , Ach., C.trachelinum , Ach., 
C. curium , Borr., and Verrucaria muralis , Ach., which, it will be seen, 
include representatives of nearly all the tribes of lichens. 
The original account can hardly be presented in a condensed form, 
for the details given, although numerous, are important. Briefly 
stated, two important facts have been brought out by the author. In 
the first place, the prevailing opinion that the hyphae coming from 
germinating lichen-spores perish in a short time unless gonidia are 
present is shown to be false. By using proper culture media, and ob- 
serving proper precautions, the hyphae from the spores of the species 
named continued to grow for more than three months, and, at the date 
of publication, many of the cultures were still in good condition. The 
hyphae produced small characteristic thalli, without any trace of 
gonidia however. At the time of writing none of them had produced 
apothecia, although in the case of Graphis scripta small bodies had 
appeared which turned violet on the application of iodine, and 
