58 x 38μ, the single-celled from 23 x 25 to 45 x 33μ and even more. The two-celled spores are usually rounded at both ends and slightly constricted at the septum. Membrane verrucose, not thickened at the apex, pedicels short and deciduous. On Borrichia frutescens. Corpus Christi, Texas, April, 1894, leg. A. A. Heller. Puccinia graminella (Speg.), D. & H. Spots yellow or purplish. Acidia and teleutospores epiphyllous. Ecidia arranged to oblong groups or lineally extending along the veins of the leaves. Pseudoperidia persistent, irregularly bursting, composed of oblong cells. Ecidiospores elliptical or ovoid, 21-29 x 18-21μ, epispore thick, colorless, verrucose or striolate. Teleutospores: sori elongated, pulvinate, dark brown; spores hardly constricted at the septum, thickened above, smooth, brown, 35-48 x 22-28μ. Pedicels stout, longer than the spores. On Stipa eminens, at Berkeley, Alameda Co., Calif., May, 1894, leg. Holway and Blasdale. This curious fungus bears only acidia and teleutospores on the same host plant and both often from the same mycelium. The acidial stage has been described by Spegazzini from Buenos Ayres under the name Ecidium graminellum; the teleutospore stage was hitherto unknown. Puccinia Panici, D. Uredo: spots yellowish, indefinite; sori epiphyllous, very minute, oblong, surrounded by the burst epidermis, brown. Uredospores broadly elliptical or globose, densely echinulate, brown, 25-31 x 25-29μ. Teleutospores: sori epiphyllous, pulvinate, black, small, oblong or linear. Teleutospores oblong or clavate, apex thickened, rounded or conical, base rounded or attenuated, central constriction slight, 29-48 x 15-21μ, brown. Pedicels of different length, on an average as long as the spores. On Panicum virgatum. This is the well known, widely spread Puccinia on Panicum virgatum, which has been united hitherto with Pucc. emaculata, Schw., on Panicum capillare. The resemblance of the teleutospores is indeed a nearly perfect one, But there are some other differences of great constancy, which render it necessary to separate them. The Pucc. emaculata is amphigenous in both its generations, whilst Pucc Panici is always epiphyllous. Besides the uredospores of the latter species are greater and the spinosity of their mem brane is more pronounced than in Pucc. emaculata. Puccinia subnitens, D. Uredospores subglobose, brown, extremely finely verrucose, with numerous germ-pores, 2324 x 20-22μ. Teleutospores: sori black, firm, pulvinate, mostly disposed in long rows and confluent; spores oblong or elliptical, rounded at both ends, slightly constricted, apex considerably thickened, often conical, 32-48 x 17-25 μ, smooth, brown. Pedicels firm, colorless, longer than the spores 8 On Distichlys spicata. Montana, leg. Anderson, comm. J. B. Ellis. This species is very different in every respect from Pucc, Distichlydis, Ell. et Ev. Puccinia adspersa, D. & H. Uredo: sori on the sheaths and on the leaves amphigenous, very inconspicuous, oblong, long covered by the epidermis. Spores globose or ovoid, 22-26 x 20-22μ, with colorless finely echinulate membranes and golden contents. Teleutospores: sori punctiform, scattered or associated on the sheaths in long rows, blackish, covered by the epidermis. Teleutospores very irregular, truncate at both ends or attenuated below, often angular, slightly thickened at the summit, constricted or not at the septum, 30-50 x 16-20μ, membrane clear-brown, contents retaining long a bright golden color. Pedicels short. On an unknown grass. Modoc Co., Cal., July 30, 1894, leg. Frank P. Nutting. Puccinia effusa, D. & H. Ecidia hypophyllons, less abundantly epiphyllous, covering widely spread patches on the stems, petioles and at the base of the leaves or forming smaller irregular groups, which often extend along the veins. Pseudoperidia short, on the petioles oblong, with white torn edges. Ecidiospores subglobose or elliptical, with colorless verrucose membranes, 19-30 x 15-20μ. Uredo and teleutospores: sori mostly hypophyllous and on the stems, of different size, scattered or confluent, when occurring on the stems and petioles, to large patches; dark brown, pulverulent. Uredospores shortly elliptical or globose, 25-28 x 2227μ, brown, membrane thick, echinulate. Teleutospores mostly elliptical or obovate, generally rounded above, sometimes attenuated below, usually without apical thickening, verrucose, chestnut brown, 30-50 x 22 x 29μ. Pedicels colorless, short, deciduous. On Viola lobata. Dunsmuir, Cal., May, 1894, leg. Holway; on Viola ocellata, Ukiah, Cal., May 22, 1894, leg. Holway and Blasdale. In its general appearance the fungus is somewhat different on both the host plants, but in the microscopical characters of the spots the agreement is complete. REVIEWS AND CRITICISMS. A Handbook of Systematic Botany. By DR. E. WARMING, Professor of Botany in the University of Copenhagen. Translated and edited by M. C. POTTER, M. A., F. L. S., Professor of Botany in the University of Durham, College of Science, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 8 vo., pp. XII., 620. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co.; New York: Macmillan & Co. 1895. The new Warming-Potter text-book is one that cannot fail to be of much use and interest to the general student of botanical science. Taken all in all, the work probably gives one a better conception of our present knowledge of plantrelationships than any other now before the public. The Thallophytes have been rearranged largely in accordance with the ideas of Dr. Knoblauch, who translated Dr. Warming's Handbook into the German. The classification of the Fungi is essentially that of Brefeld. The Bacteria have been revised by Dr. Migula, the Florideæ rearranged according to the system of the late lamented Fr. Schmitz and the Taphrinaces according to Sadebeck. Five primary Divisions of the Vegetable Kingdom are recognizedthe Thallophyta, Bryophyta, Pteridophyta, Gymnospermæ, and Angiosperma. Under the Thallophyta are three SubDivisions-the Myxomycetes, the Alge, and the Fungi. It may be remarked that the Bacteria look a little queer in the Sub-Division "Algæ;" yet, inasmuch as it has been quite generally conceded that these organisms find their nearest affinities among the Schizophyceae, this disposition of them may not meet with serious protest. A student reared on the classical text-books of Sachs and DeBary and their off-shoots is likely to indulge in some reflections on the mutability of human opinion, when he notes with how little apology or explanation sexuality is denied to the Ascomycetes. The former "erroneous" doctrine is scarcely alluded to. One or two of the familiar archicarp figures are given, like that of Stahl's section of the Collema thallus, but the supposed evidences of fertilization are passed over without serious comment. A valuable feature of the work is the chapter of sixteen pages given to the discussion of the "Transition from the Cryptogams to the Phanerogams," a matter that receives very inadequate treatment in most of the text-books now in use. It would seem, however, that the authors could have been more rigidly consistent in the subsequent pages by avoiding such terms as "male" and "female" in referring to staminate and pistillate flowers and plants. The work begins with the Myxomycetes and ends with the Aggregatæ, 324 pages being devoted to the Phanerogamia. The plan of arrangement is explained in the preface as follows: "Each form which, on comparative morphological considerations, is clearly less simple, or can be shown to have arisen by reduction or abortion of another type having the same fundamental structure, or in which a further differentiation and division of labor is found, will be regarded as younger, and as far as possible, and so far as other considerations will admit, will be reviewed later than the 'simpler,' more complete, or richer forms. For instance, to serve as an illustration: Epigyny and Perigyny are less simple than Hypogyny. Forms with united * leaves indicate younger types than those with free leaves; hence the Sympetala come after the Choripetala, the Silenea after the Alsineæ, the Malvacea after the Sterculiacea and Tiliaceæ, etc. * Of course, these princi ples of systematic arrangement could only be applied very generally; for teaching purposes they have often required modification." The mechanical execution of the work is excellent and typographic errors are few.-M. A. H. |