188«.] 
NEW LITERATURE. 
59 
foiirtli of the material has gone under review. We have had access 
to the numerous authentic specimens in the herbarium of Sir Wm. 
Hooker,” and “ Prof. Torrey has kindly presented us the collection 
given him by Schweinitz.” The authors separate and describe two 
species as new; and a few new species are published from Schwei¬ 
nitz’ MS. descriptions. All commented on are before No. 728 of the 
Sipwjmfi Fungontm, etc., that is, up to and including Thele'phora. 
NEW LITERATURE. 
BY W. A. KKLLEIIMAN. 
“ Fungi which cause Decay in Timber.” J3y P. II. Dudley. Journal 
of the New York Microscopical Society, February, 1886. 
Tlie fungus, Lentinus lepideus^ Fr., was found to be very destructive 
to railway sleepers, bridge timbers and planks made of yellow, or Georgia 
pine {Pinus palustris. Mill). Its whitish, delicate mycelium secretes 
Iluids possessing acid re-actioiis, readily softens the thin-walled trach- 
eides, causing their decomposition. “Decomposition of the wood, the 
so-called ‘Dry-rot,’ — which, contrary to the general opinion, never 
takes place in the absence of moisture — as rapidly ensues as the devel¬ 
opment of the mycelium (which secretes enough moisture for its own 
nourishment), uidess the moisture be dried by external agencies. In 
railway sleepers, as soon as the thin-walled tracheides are softened by 
the action of the fungus, larvae, from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an 
inch long, perforate and consume them, leaving the thick-walled, harder 
cells in the condition of a series of shells, rendering the sleeper useless 
in less time than would the action of the fungus alone.” 
“ The Mycologic Flora of the Mtama Valley.” By A. P. Morgan. 
Polyporei concluded. The Journal of the Cincinnati Society of 
Natural History, Vol. IX, No. 1. April, 1886, pp. 1-8. 
The following are described: Traraetes, with six species ; Daedalea, 
with four species ; Favolus, with one species; Merulius, with six species ; 
Porothelium, with one species; and Solenia, with two species. 
“ Champignous parasites des Piianerogames exotiques,” par 
M. N. Patouillard. Revue Mycologuique, ler Avril, 1886. 
“Fungi Gallici exsiccati,” Centurie, XXXVIIe. C. Roume- 
guere. 1. c. 
“ SUR C^UELQUES HEFOMATIONS DES PlIANEROGAMES CAUSEES PAR LES 
CiHNPiGNOUS PARASITES; par M. 33. Rostrup. 1. c. 
“BOM 31 ERELLA,Nouveau genre de Pyrenomycetes.” El.Marchel. l.c. 
Bommerella, iiov. gen. {.Etym. a dom. E. Bommer peritissima my- 
cologa Bruxellensi). Fungus conidiophorus Oopiporam exhibens. Peru 
thecia superticialia, sparsa, ostiolata, contexlu parenchymato fuligineo, 
seltis vestita. Asci octospori, pedicellati, aparaphysati. Sporae eximie 
triangulares, depressa^. 
