1985 - Mycological Society of America

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can be assumed that even the Ustilaginales s. str.
seem not to represent a homogeneous taxon.
On that basis a number of species of the genera
Anthracoidea, Far sia, ~icrobotr~um, S hacelotheca
soorisorium. ~- ~
a&laao
~
were restu#kTGTiE;
mbrphologicai characteristics and the germinat ion of
teliospores.
In consideration of the host plants, the site and
morphology of the sori, tel iospore formation and
germination, as well as the criteria cited above, the
phragmobasidial Ustilaginales can be divided into at
least three clusters.
1) Genera which parasitize monocotyledonous hosts,
2) genera which parasiteze dicotyledonous hosts -
these groups show an obvious affinity to the
heterobasidiomycetous yeast genera Leucosporidium
and Rhodos oridium -, and
3) Far ria, aPgenus which is unique because of the
&on of the tel iospores.
Dorner, J. W., see Yates, I. E., et. al.
Dugas, C. M., see Blackwell, M., et. al.
Dunn, P. H., see Durall, 0. M.
P. H. DUNN, S. C. BARRO, AND M. A. POTH. USDA Forest
Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment
Station, Forest Fire Laboratory, 4955 Canyon Crest Dr.,
Riverside, CA 92507. Comparison of physiological
methods to measure soil microbial biomass.
Fungi generally account for three-fourths of the
microbial biomass in soil. Two of the preferred
physiological methods of measuring the total microbial
biomass are the fumigation and incubation technique
of Jenkinson and Powlson and the glucose addition
technique of Anderson and Domsch. The glucose
addition method gives potential biomass for a site
while the fumigation technique gives a measure of
current biomass. The soil microbial biomass in a
chaparral chronosequence (six separate sites) was
evaluated with both methods using soil from beneath
several Adenostoma fasciculatum (~f) and Ceanothus
greggii (Cg) shrubs at each site. The two methods
indicated similar trends in biomass fluctuation with
stand age. Regression analysis showed that the two
methods were directly related for both shrub species
(Af: r= 0.85, Cg: r= 0.62, combined: r= 0.73).
D. M. and P. H. WNN. Pacific Southwest
Forest and mge Experiment Station, Forest Service,
U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Fire Laboratory,
4955 Canyon Crest Drive, Riverside, CA 92507.
The use of an ultrasonic probe for renwing fungal
spores from California bay ( m a r i a cal ifornica
(H. & A.) Nutt.) leaves.
Root, leaf, and soil washing techniques were developed
to facilitate the isolation of fmgi present in the
vegetative state rather than those in a transient
spore state. These techniques have used shaking
and txlbbling mechanics to remwe transient spores,
leaving behind resident fmgi. The resident fmgi
can then be isolated by plating leaf, root, and
soil particles onto growing media. The washing
efficiency of these methods has been low. In some
studies, as many as 60 one-minute washings per sanple
were required. In bacteriological research, an
ultrasonic probe has been used to dislodge bacteria
from soil. Ramval efficiency is higher than that
achieved by shaking mechanics. Results of washing
cal if ornia bay leaves and subsequent f ungal isolation
confirm previous studies m bacteria. Ultrasonicaticm
was fmd to be more efficient than shaking in the
renwal of transient spores from leaves. Results
from sampling waste water for viable transient spores
indicated that the duration of washing and the
anperage used with the probe must be adjusted to
aquire maximm remwal efficiency, but at the saw
time avoid injury to the transient spores and
vegetative mycel im.
M.J.DYKSTRA and E.J.NOGA. School of Veterinary
Medicine, North Carol ina State University, Raleigh,
NC 27606. A Newly Described Oomycete Disease of
Fish, Menhaden Ulcerative Mycosi s (MUM).
In the spring, summer, and fall of 1984, deep skin
ulcers were noted in a large proportion of menhaden
collected from the estuaries of North Carolina. Wet
mounts of lesion material showed broad, aseptate
hyphae in 54 out of 56 lesions. Histopathology
revealed broad, aseptate hyphae in 90% of the lesions
to which the fish had mounted an immune response leading
to large granulomas surrounding the hyphae. Lesion
material from 39 fish was placed on nutrient media for
14 hours at room temperature at which time emerging
hyphal tips were removed to fresh media. Twelve of
the lesions contained Achls or Sa role nia sp., 13
contained imperfect fuF, and 9$kXdk fungi.
In some cases, hyphae were teased from the lesion.
After 14 hours, the growing tips were transferred and
Achly; sp. was subsequently identified. The intense
granu omatous response to the fungus coupled with the
absence of any other predominant parasites in the
lesions suggests the deep involvement of the fungus
with the disease. The ubiquity of the fungal genera
involved further suggests that other environmental
factors are the primary cause of the disease with the
fungi being heavily involved in the lethal end-stage
of the disease. It is particularly unusual to find
Oomycetes in the high salinities (up to 1.3 ppt) from
which the fish were collected.
J. J. ELLIS. Northern Regional Research Center, ARS,
USDA, Peoria, IL 61604. Species and varieties in the
Rhizopus microsporus group as indicated by their DNA
complementarity.
Deoxyribonucleic acid renaturation studies between
authenticated strains of Rhizopus species that f om
short sporangiophores support conclusions that most
of those published species should be considered
varieties of R. microsporus.
Strains of R. chinensis
var . liquefaciens , ;: . pseudochinensis, R . oligosporus,
R. cohnii, R. rhizopodiformis, and R. pygmaeus
gave high nuclear DNA relatedness with strains of R.
microsporus and R. chinensis. In contrast, strains
of R. tritici and R. niveus showed low relatedness
with R. microsporus and R . chinensis, but much higher
relatedness with strains of R . arrhizus . Theref ore,
nuclear DNA complementarity studies are consistent,
for the most part, with conclusions recently based on
morphological observations concerning varieties and
species of Rhizopus .
J. T. ELLZEY, M. 0. COOPER and T. H. HAMMONS.
Biological Sciences, University of Texas at
El Paso, El Paso, TX. 79968-0519. Ultrastructure
of membrane-bounded structures
within hypovirulent strains of Endothia
(Cryphonectria) parasitica.
Transmission electron microscopy of freezesubstituted
hyphae of virulent and hypovirulent
strains of Endothia (Cryph0nectria)para-