270 
Notes. 
has affinities with Sequoia , but I maintain, from detailed comparison with the living 
material of Cryptomeria , that our fossil is exceedingly like this living genus. 
The general conclusion reached by Prof. Jeffrey is that ‘ it is clear that regions 
so widely separated geographically as Southern New England and Northern Japan 
were characterized during the Cretaceous period by a similar and characteristic 
Coniferous flora \ The pairs of genera above considered are from different horizons 
in different continents, and the fructifications are unknown. Palaeobotanists have 
been too much given in the past to generalizations from data of this sort. Prof. Jeffrey 
adds, ‘ The validity of this conclusion is much strengthened by the nature of the 
Abietineous remains recently described by Miss Stopes from the same deposits, since 
these correspond closely, so far as they go, with remains . . . from . . . Kreischerville.’ 
Now, one of the two Abietineous leaves I then described from my Japanese material is 
notable in being exactly like the leaf of a modern Pinus , transfusion tissue, endo- 
dermis, infolded mesophyll and all (see Stopes and Kershaw, Ann. Bot., xxiv, p. 399 
et seq.). The facts in this paper go directly against the previous conclusions of 
Prof. Jeffrey, who (Ann. Bot., 1908) had said for the study of the American leaves, 
‘ One feature which, in general, serves to distinguish all of the Cretaceous Pines thus far 
examined ... is the very wide zone of transfusion tissue surrounding the leaf- 
bundles ', and other features of endodermis, mesophyll, &c., unlike modern pines. 
It must be obvious that the time is not yet ripe for ‘ general conclusions ' about 
the flora of the Cretaceous epoch. 
M. C. STOPES. 
The University, Manchester. 
A NEW PARASITIC FUNGUS FOUND IN THE ROOTS OF GRASSES. — 
PRELIMINARY NOTICE. — I have found tubercles or swellings on the roots of 
Poa annua and other grasses. These tubercles, and to a greater extent the roots 
themselves, when microscopically examined, revealed the presence of a fungoid 
parasite allied to Sorosphaera Junci . This fungus, which is, I believe, new to botanical 
science, I propose to call Sorosphaera Graminis. There are several interesting points 
of difference between these two parasites, the amoebae of the latter of which, for 
instance, send out protoplasmic threads which penetrate through the cell-wall from 
one cell into its neighbour. One means by which infection is effected is by the 
entrance of an amoeba into a root-hair. 
I hope shortly to publish a detailed account of the life-history of S. Graminis , 
including its cytology, which in most respects agrees with that of other members 
of the Plasmodiophoraceae. 
E. J. SCHWARTZ. 
