Aquatic Phycomycetes

This volume is a revised, greatly expanded, and thoroughly admirable successor to a first edition (1943) which has been of inestimable value in facilitating the labors and stimulating research among those concerned with various aspects of aquatic microbiology. The present authoritative work is a welcome and imposing addition to biological literature by an investigator internationally renowned for his contributions to our knowledge of aquatic fungi. The logical design of the earlier edition has been retained but much new and valuable information has been poured into the old format. In addition to the inclusion of freshwater and marine Phycomycetes reported since the publication of the first edition, the scope of the treatise has been broadened significantly. Thus, the present volume describes species of Pythium (in key form) and phytophthora known to exist as water molds in natural habitats, genera of the Saprolegniaceae and citation of new taxa described since the publication of Coker (1923) and Coker and Mathews (1937), parasites of desmids belonging to the genus Ancylistes of the Entomophthorales, as well as the names and citations of species of Physoderma which parasitize marsh and aquatic vascular plants. Full descriptions are also given of those members of the Plasmodrophorales which attack aquatic cryptogams. A comprehensive introduction provides a lucid account of various biological aspects of aquatic Phycomycetes. Falling within the purview of this section are discussions of their classification and phylogeny, zoospore types and their taxonomic importance, hydrobiological relationships, geographic distribution, and procedures relating to their isolation, cultivation, and preservation. The section concludes with a key to the ten orders of aquatic-Entomophthorales). These orders are then considered in individual sections which together constitute the major portion of this compendium. The systematic treatment of each order is preceded by a consideration of such matters as the taxonomic history of the group, descriptions of reproduction , morphology, and development, cytogenetic data, parasitic relationships , and references to relevant physiological studies. It is to Dr. Sparrow's credit and no mean stylistic feat that these expository sections are crisp and eminently readable in spite of the copious documentation. Indeed, these accounts make it clear that the massiveness of the new edition (double the size of the older one) results from the information explosion rather than from inattention to the principles of "literary girth control." The methodical taxonomic treatment of the order follows the more general discussion and numerous line illustrations and keys to families, and …