82 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



is not infected with Orobanche, and it was thought that 

 possibly seed from this locality might give an immune crop. 

 Such, however, was not the case as the crop grown from 

 Peshawar seed was just as badly diseased from Orobanche 

 as the crop from local seed in the same field. 



A comparative study of the species of H elminthosporium 

 found on cultivated cereals and sugarcane at Pusa has been 

 commenced. Practically every cereal grown here is attack- 

 ed by one or more of these fungi, but it is already probable 

 that some of them are common to several hosts and that the 

 total number of species is not large. The work includes 

 morphological study based on cultures as well as inocula- 

 tion work to determine the range of host plants of each 

 species. 



Some work on a Sclerospora found on Andropogon 

 annulatus in 1918 was carried out, with a view to getting 

 a clue to the method by which the allied cereal downy 

 mildews are transmitted. This is entirely unknown. No 

 results have, however, as yet been obtained. 



Comparative studies of some species of Phytophthora 

 have given results of interest. The American species Ph. 

 terrestria Sherbakoff has been found to agree with the 

 earlier described Indian Ph. parasitica by Mr. Dastur. 

 Recently both this and another species have been discovered 

 attacking coconuts in Jamaica, and the latter has been 

 found to be one of the causes of bud rot in the West Indies. 

 Cultures sent to the writer have proved to be identical with 

 his Ph. palmivora first described under the name Pythium 

 palmivorum in Memoirs, Dept. of Agric. India, Bot. Ser., 

 Vol. I, No. 5, p. 82, 1907. It is evident that one form at 

 least of this most destructive West Indian disease is caused 

 by the same organism which has been so fully studied in 

 India, and an old controversy is thus settled in a manner 

 satisfactory to us. Some work has also been done on the 

 species of this genus found on rubber, and has strengthened 

 the view held in this laboratory that the forms hitherto 

 found on this host in India and Burma are all belonging to 

 the one species. 



