DESCRIPTION OF A NEIV FUNGUS. 165 



remarkable JEcidium, and I would commend a study of its lift; his- 

 tory to the members of the Bombay Natural History Society as a 

 research very promising in yielding fruitful result. So far it will 

 be observed no resting spore in connection with it is known. This 

 must be sought for either on the same host, or some other widely 

 different from it. As the parasite has apparently a perennial mycelium 

 allowing it to reproduce the stage I have described, year after year, 

 it is possible that the resting spore stage may be rare, but reasoning 

 from analogy this other still undiscovered stage is probably abundant. 

 This apparently is a new species, and I have named it JEcidium 

 esmlentum to indicate its edibility, a rare property in this group of 

 fungi. In a list of all the known XJredinem published lately by Dr. 

 P. Dietel* two species of .ZEcidium on species of Acacia are noted, 

 one A. inornatum, Kalchbr., on A. horrida, L., and another A. oma- 

 mentale, Kalchbr. on A. Farnedana. As I have no access to descrip- 

 tions of these, I cannot definitely state that the species I have just 

 described may not be identical with one or other of these ; but the 

 probability is that it is distinct, since neither of these hosts exists 

 in India. 



Simla, 3rd February 1890. 



* Verzeichniss Saintlicher Uredineen, Leipzig, 1888. 



NOTE ADDED TO Dr. BARCLAY'S PAPER, 



By Dr. D. Prain. 



Teratological Effects. 



The fungoid growth produces considerable general hypertrophy 

 and some distortion of the parts involved ; it causes at the same time 

 the occurrence of certain abnormalities of structure. 



The species affected, Acacia eburnea of Willdenow, is characterised 

 by having its florets arranged in globose heads. These heads are 

 borne on sleuder stalks that arise from the axils of developed leaves ; 

 the stalks are near their middle surrounded by a ring of small bracts. 

 The free ends of the stalks are slightly thickened and it is to this 



