Abstract
LONDON. Linnean Society, April 3.—Sir David Prain, president, in the chair.—W. B. Brierley: An albino mutant of Botrytis cinerea, Pers. The fungus Botrytis cinerea possesses characteristic black sclerotia, the colouring matter being deposited in the. walls of the outer two or three layers o'f cells. Among the black sclerotia in a pedigree culture a single colourless sclerotium was formed, and on isolation this gave rise to a strain characterised by colourless sclerotia. Morphologically and physiologically the parent and mutant strains are identical, and the only difference is the lack of colouring matter in the latter. A generation of the fungus may be obtained in three days, and the two strains tested over very many generations under the most diverse conditions have proved absolutely constant. As the colourless form arose in a “single-spore” culture, it cannot represent a strain selected out from an original population; and as Botrytis cinerea is asexual, the possibility of the new form being a segregant from a heterozygous parent is eliminated. Furthermore, the occurrence of colourless sclerotia in this funsms has heretofore been unknown either in Nature or when the fungus was grown on culture media. There would, therefore, seem no reason to doubt that the colourless form described is an instance of true mutation in the fungus Botrytis cinerea.—Dr. J. D. F Gilchrist: The post-puerulus stage of Josus lalandii (Milne-Edw.), Ortmann. This paper carried on the investigation already published in the Journal of the Linnean Society. Zoology (vol. xxxiii., 1916. pp. 101–25, pis. 12–17. with 12 text-figures), as “Larval and1 Post-Larval Stages of Jasus lalandii,” etc. The New Zealand cravfish is now considered to be identical with this Cape species, and found to be of wide distribution. The stage here described is that immediately following the “puerulus” stage; it represents the transition to the adult form. The specimens were obtained by trawling in Table Bay and taken to the marine laboratory at St. James, near Cape Town, where the observations now recorded were made. The author gives minute descriptions, illustrated by drawings similar to those in his previous paper.—Dr. H. H. Mann: Variation in flowers of Jatminum malabaricum. Wight. In the forests of the Western Ghats of Bombay, during the month of April, the jungle is covered with flowers of this fragrant and attractive climber. Between April 13 and 20 1916, the author had examined 2789 flowers for:the corolla, and found from five lobes in 0.33 per cent, to a, maximum of eight lobes in 40 per cent., declining to a percentage of 0.04 for those with twelve lobes. Similarly, the teeth of the calyx were examined in 3560 flowers at the same time, and showed with four teeth 2.56 per cent., with five and, six lobes the maximum with respective percentages of 46.26 and 47.81, the last being of eight teeth with 0.22 per cent.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 103, 139–140 (1919). https://doi.org/10.1038/103139a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/103139a0