ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 357 



employed to infect successfully vegetable marrow plants. In both 

 instances the Ascochyta was reproduced within a fortnight. 



J. G. Groszenbacher * first detected this disease in hothouses at 

 Geneva (New York), where it was found destroying the stalks of 

 cucumber. He made numerous successful culture experiments. 



A series of observations f on Chrysophlyctis endobiotica have been 

 made by Georg Schneider. The disease was not affected by changes of 

 soil ; the warts appear on young stages of the tubers, causing the eyes 

 to develop abnormally and form the canker-like outgrowths ; parts of 

 the stem above ground and the leaves were attacked and deformed as 

 well as tubers and rhizomes. The disease has not attained serious 

 dimensions on the Continent, and advice is given as to stamping it out. 



W. "W. Gilbert $ has studied a root-rot of tobacco caused by the 

 fungus Thielavia basicola. It causes the dwarfing and death of the 

 plants in the seed-bed and in the field. The conditions favourable to 

 the spread of the disease are (1) a heavy soil rich in humus ; (2) exces- 

 sive manuring ; (3) heavy watering and lack of ventilation in the beds. 



Fr. Bubak § describes a disease of lucerne (Medicago saliva) in 

 Austria due to an Ascomycete, Pleospliserulina Briosiana. The disease 

 was very evident, almost every leaf showing one or more of the black 

 patches on which the fungus grew. The perithecia are deep-seated in 

 the tissue of the leaf, and are visible as minute protuberances. Bubak 

 gives a complete account of the fungus. Along with the ascus form a 

 pycnidial stage, Ascochyta Medicaginis, is constantly present, and the 

 two forms are probably connected in the same life- history. 



Haven Metcalf and J. Franklin Collins || have issued a bulletin on 

 " the present status of the Chestnut Bark Disease." It is caused by a 

 minute fungus Diaporthe parasitica, also known as Valsonectria parasitica, 

 and occurs on chestnut land chinquapin regardless of age, origin, or 

 condition. It exterminates the trees in any locality which it infests. 

 In Forest Park, Brooklyn, in an area of 350 acres, 16,695 trees were 

 killed. The spores of the fungus enter the bark by a wound or possibly 

 also in other ways ; the leaves and green twigs are not directly affected. 

 The mycelium spreads in the inner bark until the tree is girdled ; if the 

 first attack is on the trunk, the tree dies ; if the branches are first 

 infected, the tree will live for some time. Cutting out and destroying 

 all diseased bark and limbs should be attended to, so as to stamp out 

 the disease as soon as it appears. 



T. PetchU gives an account of the depredations caused on the rubber 

 tree, Hevea brasilieasis, and on tea, by the fungus Corticium javanicum. 

 It appears as an incrustation of a pink colour on the bark, and is 

 locally known as " pink disease." Close planting favours the growth of 



* New York Agric. Exper. Stat. Tech. Bull. 9 (1909) pp. 195-229 (9 pis.). See 

 also Centralbl. Bakt., xxvi. (1910) p. 292. 



1 Deutsch. Landw. Presse, xxxvi. (1909) p. 340. See also Centralbl. Bakt., 

 xxvi. (1910) pp. 300-1. 



% U.S. Bureau, Plant Industry, Bull. 158 (1909). See also Bot. Centralbl., 

 cxiii. (1909) pp. 199-200. 



ij Wiener Landw. Zeit., lix. (1909) p. 909. See also Centralbl. Bakt., xxvi. 

 (1910) pp. 301-2. 



|j U.S. Dept. Agric., Bull. No. 141, pt. 5 (1909) pp. 45-53 (3 figs.). 



f Circ. and Agric. Journ. Roy. Bot. Gard. Ceylon, iv. No. 21 (1909) pp. 1S9-9G. 



