1903 | Thaxter,— A New England Choanephora 99 
Eustis was rewarded by obtaining a luxuriant growth of Choanephora 
on flowers of a cultivated Hibiscus, as well as of a wild Malvaceous 
plant found in the vicinity. The species, however, proved identical 
with the New England form and greatly to my disappointment pro- 
duced only conidial fructifications. 
Choanephora cucurbitarum appears to be a very common form in 
the vicinity of Cambridge, and is no doubt widely distributed, at 
least in the eastern and southern states. Not only is it frequently 
found in the field growing usually on smaller squashes, but it may be 
readily obtained by making moist-chamber cultures of squash blos- 
soms that have begun to fade, on which it may appear nearly pure, 
or mixed with other fungi. It seems somewhat remarkable that the 
considerable injury to squashes, for which it is responsible, is not 
referred to, as far as I am aware, by any of the Experiment Station 
workers who have the best opportunities for observing such diseases ; 
although Mr. Peck has twice called attention to it, in his 43d and 45th 
Reports, and it is undoubtedly often responsible for the destruction 
of no inconsiderable percentage of the crop. In a majority of cases 
this injury appears to be due to the fact that the mycelium, which 
has attacked a fading flower, spreads readily thence to the young 
squash, the rapidly growing tissues of which it attacks like a true 
parasite, causing a soft rot. This rot may be very easily induced by 
cutting out a small plug from a young or full grown squash or pump- 
kin, and inserting a few spores, or a little mycelium, and replacing 
the plug. The mycelium spreads under these conditions with extraor- 
dinary rapidity, and in a few days involves the whole fruit in a watery 
decay. A coarse cottony mycelium appears at different points on 
the surface, and if the culture is kept only partly covered, so that the 
atmosphere is not too moist, an abundant coating of the conidial 
fructification will develop; which, to the naked eye, has the appear- 
ance of a luxuriant growth of some large Mucor, or of Rhopalomyces 
Strangulatus, If the atmosphere is saturated, but few fructifications 
appear in such cultures, and the most luxuriant development of 
conidiophores seems to be adjusted within rather narrow limits, to 
the conditions of moisture present. On flowers, however, which fur- 
nish drier conditions, little difficulty is encountered in inducing the 
fungus to fruit abundantly in a moist chamber. On potato agar and 
similar nutrients in tubes, although the mycelium always develops 
rapidly and luxuriantly, fructifications very rarely appear. The 
