# The Journal of Indian Botany/Volume 3/May 1922/Geographical distribution of the Bengal Species of Polyporaceae along with a Short history of them in Bengal

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GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE BENGAL
SPECIES OF POLYPORACEAE ALONG WITH A
SHORT HISTORY OF THEM IN BENGAL
BY
S. R Bose, M.A., F.L.S.
Professor of Botany, Carmichael Medical College, Belgachia, Calcutta.
The Mycological flora of such a large portion of the world remains unexplored that it is at present impossible to give a general view of the geographical distribution of fungi ; even in some of the civilized countries, the phanerogamic flora of which has been fully worked out, little has been done towards the collection and publication of lists of fungi ; the most we could at present is to compare the collection of one country with that of another and to note the difference and agreements. Such a comparison is useful as we learn how much there is to be known.
In case of fungi it so happens that species which were at one time very common gradually become somewhat rare and rare until they disappear altogether. The late illustrious Fries said “ The fact must not be lost sight of that some species of fungi which have formerly been common in certain localities, may become within our life time more and more scarce and even altogether cease to grow there. The cause of this doubtless is the occurrence of some change in the physical constitution of a locality, such as that resulting from the destruction of a forest, or from the drainage by ditches and cut-tings of more or less extensive swamps, or from the cultivation of the soil.”
In case of Polyporaceae it will be seen that the geographical limits of species are not so well marked and definite as in those of phanerogamous plants. When climatic conditions regarding temperature, rain-fall, humidity, etc., are analogous, it is astonishing to find the repetition of the species in very distant parts of the globe. But it is usually found that tropical countries abounding in virgin forests form the special abode of Polipori, which grow luxuriantly under the shade affording perpetual moisture and heat. Some species are practically cosmopolitan in their range, for instance, Fomes leucophaeus, which was already reported from the North temperate. South ​temperate, and subtropical regions, and now has been found In tropical region also (Bengal, Hooghly District). So also Pohjstictus versicolor , Qanoderma hicidus , and Polyporus gilvits, while Fomes applanatiis is almost cosmopolitan). Others, so far as our knowledge goes, appear to have an extraordinary discontinuous distribution — for instance (l) Polystictus protea is found in Calcutta, Bengal, in forests near Uitenhage in South Africa and Mexico, America; (2) Trametes lactinea is found in Howrah District. Bengal, Ceylon, Singapur, New England, South Australia, and Cuba; (3) Daedalea quercina Is found in Hooghly District, Bengal, Great Britain, Denmark and Paraguay (SouthAmerica) ; (4) Polyporus luzonensis is found in Khulna, Chittagong, Mymensingh districts in Bengal and the Philippine Islands; (5) Trametes occidentalis is found in Hooghly, Howrah, Jessore and Asam in Bengal, Bombay, Mussorie, Ceylon, Malaya peninsula, Australia, the Philippine Islands, the Fiji Islands, Mauritius, Madagascar, East Africa, Guinea, South America, (Brazil and Paraguay), Central America, West Indies and United States of America. This might be due solely to our ignorance of the occurrence of obscure species in localities where they have not been properly sought for, or it may have some real significance as indicating that certain forms can not always increase and multiply even in those localities that appear most suitable for them. No generalisation how- ever, can be reached in the present state of our knowledge of the distribution of Polypores, one is bound -to wait till the fungus-flora of the whole world is fully worked out. Again there are some species of Polypores, which are strictly local within the limits of the British India (including Ceylon) and the Eastern tropics and have not up till now been found outside these limits — for instance (i) Polystictus suboccidentalis, was formerly reported from Bonhomme valley (India), but is now for the first time found in Hooghly district, Bengal; (ii) Polyporus fimoso-olivaceous — formerly reported from Ceylon only, and now found in Howrah district, Bengal ; (iii) Polystictus Berkley, formerly reported from Ceylon only, and now found in the interior of Hooghly District, Bengal ; (iv) Merulius similis’—ior - merly from Ceylon, now found In the interior of the Hooghly District, So also Fomes annularis , Polyporus Emerici , Fomes pallidus , Poria diver siporus, Polyporus secernibilis , Favolus scaber , Trametes fuscella and Polyporus Shorea confined to Jalpaiguri, Buxa range and not found on plains. Lastly the discovery of some Polypores in Bengal extends the zone of distribution of our old species, for Instance Lenzites alutacea , Polyporus Ehizophore , and Polyporus anebus were formerly recorded from the tropical region alone, now they have been found in ​the subtropical and North temperate regions also (from 24 to 28 N. lat) ; similarly Fomes leucophaeus was formerly reported from the North temperate, the South temperate and the subtropical regions now it has been found also in the tropical region; Fomes annularis was reported from the tropics only — now found in the North temperate region (Darjeeling) ; Polyporus secernibilis was reported from the tropics only, now found in the North temperate as well (Darjeeling) ; Polystictus tabacinus was reported from the tropics and the South temperate alone, now found in the North temperate (Darjeeling) as well ; Polyporus rubidus was reported from the tropics and the South temperate alone, now it has been found in the North temperate (Darjeeling) as well ; Daedalea flavida was reported from the tropics and South temperate alone, now found in the North temperate (Darjeeling) as well.
History of the Bengal Polyporaceae
The work on Indian fungi has been very scrappy and at irregular intervals. The earliest record of it is to be found in Hooker’s Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany , Vols. II, III, IV and VI. In 1850, Dr. Hooker collected a good number of different groups of fungi in Himalaya, Sikkim, Darjeeling and Khashya hills, these were all determined by Berkley and published under the heading of Decades of Fungi in the said volumes of the Kew Garden Miscellany. Then in 1874 stray collections of Polypores from the Calcutta*Botanic Gardens and from Burma were collected by Mr. Kurz and determined by Mr, Gurry and published in the Transactions of the Linnean Society — Series Bot . Vol. I. pp . 121 — '126, There were some notices of Indian fungi (mostly leaf fungi and Agaricaceae with a few Poly pores) by Cooke in several scattered volumes of Grevillea from 1874 to 1891. In the Kew Bulletin from 1898 — 1912 George Massee named and published a few Polypores along with Agarics from Bengal, mostly collected and sent by Mr. Burkhill — the then Economic Botanist to the Government of India. Quite recently stray collections of Polypores (mainly from Darjeeling, collected by Mr. H. G. Cave, the Curator of the Lloyd Botanic Garden) have been determined and published by Mr. Lloyd of America in his Mycological Notes. This in fact represents the whole work on Bengal Polypores. Prom Bombay and Southern India how- ever, a large number of Poly pores with other fungi were collected by Bather Blatter, Professor of Botany, St, Xavier College, Bombay and were determined by late Bather Theissan, who published them in Annales Mycologici , Vol. 9 of 1911 and Journal of the Bombay Natural
THE INDIAN BOTANIGAL SOCIETY
The Madras Meeting of the Indian Botanical Society
The Indian Botanical Society grew out of a movement started at the Nagpur meeting of the Indian Science Congress in January, 1920. Invitation to membership was extended to botanists throughout India, and the organization was finally completed in December of the same year. The Society aims to unite the botanists and promote the botanical interests of India. The primary purpose is to encourage and promote research. The Society has made steady growth both in numbers and influence.
The first annual meeting was held at Madras in co-operation with the Botany Section of the Indian Science Congress. There was a short business session at the time of the Congress meeting in Calcutta the year before, but this Madras meeting was the first programme of the Society.
The entire meeting was a decided success. In addition to the programme of the Science Congress, there were special events for Society members only. On the 31st, a few members made a trip to Sripermatur to study and collect plant fossils. The next day a number of members went on a trip to Mamallapuram (Seven Pagodas), on the coast south of Madras, to study the vegetation characteristic of the region. Here a considerable variety of vegetation is met with — freshwater, brackish water, scrub forest, dune, and marine. Wild Oycas circinalis in the scrub forest, Isoetes in freshwater pools, Eriocaulon on damp banks, and Spinifex squarrosus on dune sands’ were perhaps the most interesting plants. It is planned to make the botanical trip a special feature of future annual meetings.
Three days were devoted to the reading and discussion of papers. The retiring President, Dr. Winfield Dudgeon, was also serving as President of the Botany Section, and the programme was made out jointly by the two organizations. Many of the papers were illustrated by lantern slides, charts and specimens.
The programme follows:
Winfield Dudgeon : The Botanical Opportunity in India (Pre- sidential address).
Shiv Ram Kashyap and Shiva Kant Pande : Contribution to the life history of Anew a indica . ​ M. L. Sethi : Contributions to the life history of Pinas longi folia . W. T. Saxton: Preliminary Note on the life history of Cedrics deodar a Loud.
M. O. Parthasarathy Iyengar : Note on some attached forms of Zygnemaceae.
Winfield Dudgeon : The Botanical Opportunity in India; (Pre- sidential address).
Shiv Ram Kashyap and Shiva Kant Pande : Contribution to the life history of Amur a indica .
M. L. Sethi : Contributions to the life history of Pinas longifolia ;
Preliminary note on the life history of Cedrics deodar a Loud.
M. O. Parthasarathy Iyengar : Note on some attached forms of Zygnemaceae.
S. P. Agharkar : Abnormalities of the flower of Musa paradisiaca var. sapientum and M, super ba*
P. M. Debbarman : A case of axial prolification of the flower of Nymphcea rubra Koxb ; Two new Indian plants; Two new Assam plants.
V. N. Hate : The algal flora of Bombay Island and its immediate
vicinity, the Salsette.
S. R. Bose : Geographical distribution of the Bengal species of Polyporacese, along with a short history of them in Bengal.
W. T. Saxton : Note on nyctinastic movements in Indigofera
gerardiana Wall ; Note on autonomous movements in Eleiotis sororia DO ; Note on the rate :of growth in the scape of Rymenocallis caribcea Herb.
B. Sahni : A note on the vegetation of Khajiar, near Chamba in the North-West Himalayas.
P. F. Fyson : The Ecology of the Nilgiri Hilltops plateau.
R. H. Dastur and W. T. Saxton: The Ecology of some plant communities in the Savannah formation.
Leslie A. Kenoyer : Notes on forest successions in the Gangetic Plain and the adjoining Vindhiyas.
R. S. Inamdar and S. P. Agharkar : Notes from a journey to Gosainthan in Nepal
G* M. Chakradeo : An ecological study of Deccan grassland. II.
Cecil E. C. Fischer : Field notes on the Loranthaceae of Southern India. ​ Shiv Ram Kashyap : Some foreign weeds recently introduced in the neighbourhood of Lahore,
K. P, Shrivastava : A note on pollination and its economic import-
ance in some of the chief crops of the Central Provinces and Berar.
M. O, Tircmarayana Iyengar : On the biology of the flowers of Monochoria ,
P. M. Debbarman : A short note on the short-cut to the nectar in the flower of Gastanospernmm australe C. & ; Some
observations on the anchoring pads of Gymnopetahm cochin - chinensc Kurz. and some other cucurbitaceous plants.
M. J* Narsimban : Note on the presence of yeasts in some insects.
M. S* Sabhesan : Studies on the photosynthetic system of Cy- peraceae.
L. B. Kulkarni : A case of plant surgery,
G. B. Patwardhan : Some abnormal forms of phylloclades of Opuntia elatior Mill.
G. K. Lele : A study of the genus Triticum in Central India.
S. H* Prayag : Variations in the Gossypium ncglectum types of cotton.
Sudhir Chandra Roy : Mendeiian characters in linseed (Linum usitatissimum ).
R. K. Bhide : Contabescence of She anchors in rice.
G. R. Hilson : The determination of seed weight and weight of lint per seed in Gossypium hirsutum.
B. Sahni : On some petrified plants from the Mesozoic and Tertiary roots of India and Burma.
At the business meeting of the Society February 3rd, the minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved, and the Secretary- Treasurer read his report for 1921. He reported that the member- ship numbered 121, of whom 114 are Charter Members. There was a cash balance of Rs. 621-5-4 in the treasury on December 31, 1921.
Ih was decided to put Rs. 500 in a hank at fixed deposit, as a reserve fund.
The result of the correspondence ballot for two officers to be elected for 1922 was announced: Rai Bahadur K. Rangaehari, M.A., L.T., of the Agricultural College, Coimbatore, was elected President', ​and Prof. S. P. Agharkar, Ph.D., of Calcutta University, Vice-Presi- dent. The other officers, holding over from 1921 are : Prof. Shiv Bam Kashyap, M.Sc., of the Government College, Lahore, Secretary- Treasurer, and two Councillors, Prof. Birbal Sahni, D.Sc., of Lucknow University, and the retiring President, Prof. Winfield Dudgeon. Pb.D., of Ewing Christian College, Allahabad.
Fourteen new members were added to the Society by ballot. Since the meeting, four more members have been taken in, bringing the total membership to 139.
The provisional constitution adopted at the time of formation of the Society has proved inadequate, so a committee was appointed to draw up a new constitution, to be submitted at the next meeting.
Finally, it was decided to approach the Editor of the Journal of Indian Botany with the proposal to take over the Journal as the property and official organ of the Society. The Society needs a journal, and as the Journal of Indian Botany is already well started and provides ample facility for botanical publication, it seemed wise to attempt to acquire it.
The next meeting of the Society will be held in Lucknow in connection with the Indian Science Congress, probably in January, 1923.
Winfield Dudgeon.
CURRENT LITERATURE
Mascre, M. Reeherches sur 1© developpement de Fanth&re chez les Solanacees (Contribution a l’etude de Fassize nourrici&re du pollen.) These Paris , 99 p,, 101 figs. 1921 .
The author has investigated the origin, development, structure, and function of the tapetum in 20 species belonging to 14 genera of the Solanaceee. A section is devoted to a discussion of the merits of various fixing agents and staining methods for demonstrating the different cell structures, food materials, and phases of degeneration.
The structure and behaviour of the tapetum is quite uniform throughout the plants investigated. The hypodermal archesporial cells divide by peri- clinal walls to form the primary sporogenous cells and an outer primary parietal layer, which in turn divides to form the outer tapetum and a layer which gives rise to the wall cells of the anther. Early during this development, the vegetative cells bordering on the inner side of the sporogenous tissue differentiates to form the inner tapetum. Despite the fact that the tapetal cells have thus a dual origin, they all have the same structure ; this is because they are all subjected to the same physiological conditions, and all have the same function of transfering food materials to the developing pollen grains. The author entirely disagrees with the view sometimes expressed that the tapetal cells are potential sporogenous cells diverted for nutritive purposes.
The life of the tapetal cells is divided into three rather well-defined periods :
1. Period of differentiation, extending from the time the cells are first set apart, to tetrad formation in the pollen mother cells. The cells divide and attain their full number and size. The protoplasm is abundant, and there is a well-developed chondriome made up of granules and short rods. The cells are always uninucleate at first, but the nuclei soon begin to divide to produce two .or four daughter nuclei, which then show a decided ten- dency to fuse into large polyvalent nuclei.
2. Stage of maturity, during which the tapetum is actively functioning as a secreting layer. The chondriome transforms into long rods, some of which give rise to plastids in which starch grains are formed, while others give rise to granules of fatty substance. These food substances are gradually passed inward in solution to the developing pollen grains. The nuclei finally complete their fusions, and some of the large fusion nuclei may again undergo mitosis.
3. Period of degeneration. This stage begins about when the walls of the pollen grains commence to thicken. The first sign of degeneration is seen in the chondriome ; then the tapetum walls become cutinised. At length the nuclei and the cytoplasm with its chondriome degenerate, and at the time of anther dehiscence only the shriveled remnants of the tapetum cells remain. Here and there cells or call contents are found wandering out ​among the pollen grains, but this seems to be nothing more than the occa- sional accidental dislocation or rupture of cells caused by the shriveling ; it is in no sense a tapetal plasmodium.
The author also made incidental observations on the character and development of the poilen grains, and on the structure and mechanism of dehiscence of the anthers.
Winfield Dudgeon.
Sharp, Lester W.— Somatic chromosomes in Tradescantia. Amer . Jour. Bot. 8 : 305-817. 2. pis. 1920.
The details of mitosis are still very incompletely known. Exactly what happens during the reconstruction of the nuclei at telophase ; the condition of the chromatin during the interphase ; the method of reformation of chromosomes from the interphase reticulum ; the time and method of formation of the propbase longitudinal split ; and even the question of the reality of the linin framework of the chromosomes— these all are problems of modern cytology.
The author has concluded previously, following Gregoire, that at telophase the chromosomes undergo a progressive vacuoiation which gradually transforms them into reticular structures, which all together constitute the chromatin network of the resting nucleus. At the next mitosis these reticulated chromosomes gradually separate from each other and condense into the prophase chromosomes. Miss Digby (on the arches porial and meiotic mitoses of Osmunda. Ann. Bot. 33 : 135—370. 1919), among others, has recently produced strong evidence supporting the view that the split observed in the heterotype prophase is the reappearance of a split developed during the previous somatic telophase. The present Study “ was undertaken not only to test the writer's position with respect to the time of chromosome splitting in somatic mitoses, but also, by determining more precisely the nature of the transformation of the chromosomes in the somatic telophase, to ascertain to what extent, if at all, this transformation will aid in the interpretation of the heterotype prophase.”
When the chromosomes begin to separate from one another during teleophase, they remain connected by thin strands of chromatic substance. At the same time minute vacuoles appear in the chromosomes, not only along the midline but also along the periphery, with no regular arrangement. It is this vacuoiation of the chromosomes that has been interpreted by some other workers as a definite longitudinal split ; but transverse sections of the chromosomes may show 3 or 4 vacuoles lying side by side, So that the chromosomes “can no more be called ‘double’ than triple or quadruple.’* Tacuolation continues till the outline of each chromosome is nearly or quite lost in an irregular network. This resting reticulum is regarded as made up entirely of chromatin, or perhaps more accurately, of a very fluid chromatic substance free to diffuse about through another material which composes the framework; but it cannot be interpreted as chromatin granules strung on linin threads.
The prophase of the next mitosis is largely a reversal of the process of vacuoiation. The chromatin begins to condense, and the anastomoses to pull apart. As condensation proceeds, some of the vacuoles open to the exterior, leaving the chromosomes as irregular zigzag threads of uneven thickness,