550 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



He notes that only indigenous oaks were attacked. Exotic specimens 

 were immune from the fungus. 



Arsene Puttemans * gives descriptions of several new diseases of 

 plants. Begonia plants were attacked by an Oidnwi ; cauliflowers suf- 

 fured from a mould, Alternarim Brass kse, which formed black spots on 

 the heads ; and the leaves of the Chrysanthemum were disfigured and 

 destroyed by Oercospora Chrijsanthemi sp. n. These records are from 

 plants in Brazil, in or near Rio Janeiro. 



C. 0. Jamieson t and H. W. Wollenweber found that an external 

 dry rot of potato tubers was caused l)y Fiisarlum trichothecioides, a new 

 fungus which acts as a wound parasite and attacks potato tubers only. 

 It is nearly allied to F. discolor var. sulphureum. 



A. H. Graves f describes a disease of Chestnut leaves due to Mono- 

 chseti Desmazierii, one of the order Melanconiaceas of the Fungi imperfecta 

 Inoculation experiments proved that the fungus infected only the leaves 

 that had been wounded. In nature probably the bite of an insect or 

 some mechanical injury may provide the starting point for the disease. 

 The disease is of widespread occurrence and of considerable economic 

 importance, as it injures a large percentage of the leaves on the infected 

 trees. 



Schizophyta. 

 Schizomycetes. 



Bacterium Matthiol8e.§ — G. Briosi and L. Pavarino describe a new 

 bacterium which destroys Matthiola annua L, the common Stock. The 

 organism is a rodlet 2 • 4 /x long by • 4 - • 6 /x broad, with rounded ends. 

 It is easily stained, but not by Gram's method. It is a motile aerobe, 

 and its optimum temperature is 15° C. It grows well on the ordinary 

 media, e.g. agar, gelatin (which is liquefied), broth, and potato. Healthy 

 plants inoculated with pure cultures rapidly succumb. 



Mycobacterium putricolens.|l — E. Marchoux and E. Halphen have 

 given this name to an acid-fast bacillus present in inflammatory condi- 

 tions of the nose, throat, and accessory sinuses. Although definitely 

 acid-fast, it is readily decolorized with alcohol. It does not grow upon 

 artificial media, but multiplication takes place to some extent upon 

 portions of tissue kept moist by contact with agar. Inoculated into rats, 

 the organism produces local abscesses ; the infection can be transmitted 

 from rat to rat by inoculation, and the acid-fast property is lost. 

 Although present so frequently in the nasal mucous membrane, it does 

 not appear to be pathogenic for man. 



Trichophyton soudanense.^ — C. Joyeux, from cases of ringworm in 

 the Soudan, has obtained a new species of Trichophyton, which grows 



* Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belg. (1912) pp. 235-47 (3 figs.). 



t Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., ii. No. 6 (1912) pp. 146-52 (1 fig.). See also 

 Ann. Mycol., s. (1912) pp. 386-7. 



% Mycologia, iv. (1912) pp. 170-4 (1 pi.). 

 § Atti R. Accad. Lincei, xxi. (1912) pp. 216-20. 

 II C.R. Soc. Biol., Ixxiii. (1912) pp. 249-52. 

 «P C.R. Soc. Biol. Paris. Ixxii. (1912) pp. 15-16. 



