ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 505 



A note is also published * in the s-'.nie journal on dry scab of 

 potatoes, called by Frank Phellomyces srfervtiophorus, but now known as 

 Spondylocladium atrovirens Harz. The disease attacks the tubers only. 

 It has been reported from Ireland and from the Isle of Ely. 



A disease of figs t which causes spots on unripe figs and leads to 

 decay of the fruit, has been giving trouble in North Carolina. A tree 

 attacked with the disease may lose all its fruit. The fungus causing the 

 disease has been examined by F. L. Stevens and J. G-. Hall, who have 

 made a series of inoculation experiments, and have concluded that it is 

 new to science. They have named it GoUetotrichum Carka. It grows 

 only in somewhat damp localities. 



Knischewsky % gives a general resume of tropical plant diseases and 

 their causes. He recommends the mixing of kolophonium and potato 

 starch with Bordeaux mixture for spraying cocoa trees that have been 

 attacked by Phytophthora. Cocoa trees suffer also from witches' brooms 

 due to Exoascus Bussei. Cutting down and burning of the brooms is 

 the only remedy. Cocoa canker due to Nectria, a wound parasite is also 

 to be dealt with by cutting away diseased parts and closing the cut part 

 with tar. An account is also given of diseases caused by insects. 



Karl Miiller§ records the outbreak of two epidemic mildews in 

 Baden : the gooseberry mildew, Spserotheca mors-uvse, and the mildew 

 of oak leaves, as elsewhere, only the conidial form. There is not 

 sufficient explanation as to how these two epidemics arose in that part of 

 the country. 



F. Laibach || describes several fungi that do harm to cultivated 

 strawberries, Marsonia Potent Mae, Leptothyrium macrothecium, and a 

 new species Zythia Fragarise. 



0. Appel and F. Laibachlf notify a severe outbreak of disease of 

 salad plants due to Marssonia Panattoniana. The leaves become brown 

 and then decay, and the whole plant is soon destroyed. 



W. Busse and P. Ulrich** experimented with seeds of Beet to 

 determine the presence of certain fungi in the soil or in the seeds. As 

 a result, they found that while Phoma Betes was associated with the 

 seeds ; Pythium and Aphanomyces were soil fungi. They concluded that 

 the healthiness of the seed could not be decided by the number of 

 diseased seedlings. 



F. C. von Fabei'tt writes on canker and witches' brooms on cocoa 

 palms in the Cameroons. The form due to Nectria attacks both stems 

 and fruit ; the latter caused by Taphrina Bussei sp. n., attacks the buds'. 

 It has not as yet done serious damage, but ought to be kept in check. 



K. Friedrichs J J has proved that Phalacrus corascus and its larvae 

 eat the spores of cereal rusts, which lose their germinating power on 

 passing through the bodies of the insects. 



* Journ. Board Agric, xxi. (1909) pp. 125-6. 



t Zeitschr. Pflanzenkr., xix. (1909) pp. 65-8 (1 pi.). 



j Tom. cit., pp. 74-S0. § Zeitschr. Pflanzenkr., xix. (1909), pp. 143-4. 



y Arb. k.. Biol. Aust. Land. Forstw. vi. 190S) pp. 76-80. See also Ann. Mycol.,. 

 vii. (1909) p. 195. 



T Tom. cit., pp. 28-37 (1 pi.). See also Ann. Mycol., vii. (1909) p. 198. 

 ** Tom. cit., pp. 373-84. ft Tom. cit., pp. 395-406, 385-95. 



tt Tom. cit., pp. 38-52. See also Ann. Mycol., vii. (1909) p. 200. 



