178 SUMMARY OF CUERENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



North American AscochytaB. — A descriptive list of these, arranged 

 in specific alphabetical order, has been published by J. J. Davis {Trans. 

 Wis. Acad. ScL, Arts and Letters, 1919, 19, Part XL, G55-70). They 

 grow on leaves and branches, and cause more or less damage. An index 

 of hosts is added. A. L. kS. 



Onion Smut. — This disease, which is new to the British Islands, is 

 reported by A. I). Colton (Journ. Board of Af/ric, 1919, 26, 168-71, 

 1 pL). The smut was published by Farlow as Urocystis cepulse in 1897, 

 and has since that date been frequently collected in the United States. 

 In this country it first appeared in June, 1918, in a garden at 

 Northampton, but a record of it from allotments near Edinburgh has 

 been found dating from 1912. The fungus forms black streaks on the 

 leaves, which may extend to the base of the bulb. The sooty mass of 

 spores may be blown away to other plants, or may contaminate the 

 soil. Plants are infected when quite young, below the ground level ; 

 the mycelium produced as a result of infection spreads through the 

 growing seedling. Spores do not affect the leaves above ground, nor 

 older plants. The spores retain their vitality for many years ; a case is 

 reported where bad outbreaks occurred in a field alter twelve years. 

 In America formaldehyde has been used for disinfecting the soil, and 

 lias been partially successful. Leeks are even more liable to the disease 

 than onions. A. L. S. 



Smut on Iresine. — The smut described was found by John A. 

 Elliott {Mycologia, 1919, 11, 87-8, 4 figs.) affecting the ovaries of 

 Iresine paniculata from Indiana. It belongs to the genus Toli/posporium, 

 and is the first smut recorded on Iresine. A. L. S. 



Experiments with Uredinese. — Ed. Fischer (llitt. Naturf. Gesell. 

 Bern, 1918 (1917), 58-79, 3 figs.) continues his mycological contribu- 

 tions with descriptions of Uredine experiments. He found a new 

 Oymnosporangium, G.fusisporum, on Juniperus sahina, with its secidia 

 on Gotoneasier integerrima, possibly also on Pirus commvnis and Gydonia 

 obloyiga. He also traced the development of Uromyces Isevis on the 

 host plant. Euphorbia iSequieriana, from the inoculation of buds by 

 fceleutospores in the soil. When the buds opened, the first leaves were 

 free from the fungus, but the later leaves were infected. Then a second 

 delay of growth of the mycelium occurred, and the terminal shoots and 

 leaves were free from the fungus. 



Some experiments with Puccinia fusca on Anemone montana are also 

 described. This Uredine possesses a perennial mycelium, and infection 

 experiments are rarely successful, but eventually teleuto-sori were found 

 in two of the leaf segments. A. L, S. 



Puccinia subnitens and its Jlcial Hosts. II. — An interesting 

 study has been made by Ellsworth Bethel {Phytopathology, 1919, 9, 

 193-201) of the various hoses of Puccinia subnitens Diet., more especially 

 of the ascidial hosts. The teleutospores occur chiefly on Distichlis 

 spicata, but probably also on other grasses. Bistichlis is always badly 

 rusted in the Western States. With spores from Distichlis Bethel was 

 able to inoculate any of the known hosts from whatever localities they 



