Page:Natural History Review (1861).djvu/399

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CRYPTOGAMIA.
387

CIIYPTOGAMIA. 387

above a thousand species of Fungi, and a complete list of all that have been described as natives of the British Isles. By the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, M.A., F.L.S., Author of " Introduction to Oryp- togamic Botany." London : Lovell Eeeve, 1860. (This work is noticed, sup. p. 5.)

Bom)eden. — Zur Kenntniss einiger der wichtigsten G-attungen der Coniomyceten und Cryptoniyceten, von Dr. Bonorden, mit drei colorirten tafeln. Halle. Schmidt, 1860.

Boussingault.— Observations relatives au developpement des My- codermes. C. Een. LI. p. 671.

Coemans. — Notice sur le Pilobolus crystallinus ; par Eug. Coemans. Bull, de l'Acad. Eoy. de Belgique, 2nd Ser. vol. viii. p. 199.

This paper contains observations on the structure and develop- ment of the vegetative portion of P. crystallinus, as also on the structure of the sporangium, and of its covering membrane, and of the cause and mode of its projection from the plant.

Eecherches sur la genese et les metamorphoses de la Peziza

Sclerotiorum Lib., par M. Eugene Coemans, Bull, de l'Acad. Eoy. de Belgique. 2 ser. vol. ix. 1860, p. 62.

The first state of the fungus (periode nematoide ou sphacelienne) consists of a system of filaments which produce acrogenous spores. After a few weeks these filaments become condensed and form a rounded or irregular mass, and a black epidermis is formed from the extremities of the filaments. In this state (l'etat sclerotien) the fungus lives through the winter. In spring the epidermal cellules swell and become elongated, and produce a rounded stem which bears a cinnamon-coloured cup. The plant is then in the perfect state (l'etat pezizoide) and the fungus recognizable as Peziza Sclerotiorum Lib.

The author describes at length the three different stages above mentioned. He notices the production during the Sphace- lioid state of three sorts of spores, viz. small oval spores, large cylindrical or fusiform spores 5 and rounded spores, but no true spermatia. A section is devoted to the different parasites ob- served to grow in company with the sphacelia. In the Scle- rotioid state M. Coemans observed an exudation similar to that mentioned by Tulasne in Sclerotium Clavus. The author then describes his experiments with the Sclerotium. He did not succeed in rearing the Peziza from Sclerotia suspended in bottles, but those sown in pots, in mould, produced an abundant crop. M. Coemans entertains no doubt, of the Sclerotium being the Mycelium of the Peziza, there being, he says, no ground for sus- pecting parasitism, as in the cases of Agaricus tuberosus and Ag. stercorarius. The Sclerotia from which the Peziza was produced varied much in appearance, answering to the forms described as species under the names varium Pers., compactum D.C. tectum Ei, bullatum D.C. and spha?ri?eformis Lib. Eermond, Ch. — Sur une prolification de Y Agaricus eclulis. Bull. Soc. Bot. vii. pp. 496-8.