102 
normal development of the primordia and the com pound sporophores. 
the blue-violet end of the spectrum being the only stimulating portion. 
In many cases the mycelia remained absolutely sterile when kept in 
* 
darkness or when exposed only to yellow light. 
In his preface to Heft YII the indefatigable author promises to re¬ 
turn to the smuts in Heft IX and to the Ascomycetes in X and the fol¬ 
lowing Heften. We trust he may be spared life and daylight to the 
completion of his great task, the material for which lie tells us is al¬ 
ready in good part accumulated and only remains to be put into proper 
shape. —Erwin F. Smith. 
Miyabe, Kingo. On the life history of Macrosporium parasiticum , 
Thiim. Annals of Botany, February, 1889. 
The investigations, the results of which are set forth in this paper, 
were carried on at Harvard University under the direction of Dr. Far- 
low, the material for study, consisting of onion plants, having been 
sent to him from Bermuda. Without going into the details of the 
work it may be said that Mr. Miyabe concludes that Macrosporium para¬ 
siticum, Thiim., is the same as Macrosporium sarcinula , Berkeley, and 
that both of these so-called species are merely forms of the common 
Pleospora lierbarum. He further shows that there are only two forms 
of the Pleospora , i. e., the ascosporous and the Macrosporium, and re¬ 
marks in his recapitulation that the jiresence of pycnidia is very doubt¬ 
ful, and may have disappeared from the fungus cycle of development 
altogether. It is shown that the formation of the peiithecia is not at¬ 
tended by any sexual act, and finally that the Macrosporium , contrary 
to the usual belief, is a true parasite, having power of developing within 
the tissues of plants not previously injured by fungi or other causes.—- 
B. T. Galloway. 
Lagerheim, G. TJeber einigc neue oder bemerlcenswertlie Uredineen. 
Hedwigia Band XXVIII, Heft 2, p. 103. 
In this paper are given the results of some recent observations on sev¬ 
eral genera of Uredinecc , the first of which is Diorchidium. This genus, 
according to the author, was established by Kalchbrenner in 1883 from 
specimens occurring on Milletia caffra , collected at Port Natal, South 
Africa. It differs from Puccinia in having teleutospores divided by 
perpendicular or oblique instead of horizontal cross-walls. Soon after 
the attention of mycologists was directed to this peculiar genus, new 
species were found, the first among these being Diorchidium here, Sacc. 
& Bizz., on Manisurus granulis from Brazil, and Diorchidium pallidum, 
Winter, on an undetermined host plant from the same place. Later, 
I)e Toni in Sylloge VII, p. 730, referred Triphragmidium binatum , 
Berkeley, on an undetermined host plant from Nicaragua, and Puccinia 
verti-septa, Tracy & Galloway, on Salvia ballatceflora, from New Mexico, 
to the same genus. In the case of D. pallidum and J>. verti-septa uredo- 
