148 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



tionship of the disease to similar diseases such as foUetage, rougeot, sun scald, 

 brunissure, shelling, and tetranychosis, and the nature of the disease. 



As a result of these investigations the conclusion is drawn that the Cali- 

 fornia vine disease is not of parasitic origin, but is due to some weakness in 

 the functions of absorption and translocation of water which becomes manifest 

 when conditions favoring transpiration are marked. 



A new enemy of grapes, E. Hahn {Umschau, 15 (1911), No. IJf, pp. 290, 291, 

 fig. 1). — ^Attention is called to the occurrence of Lathrcea clandestina on the 

 roots of grapevines, where it produces galls at the point of attachment to its 

 host. The immediate uprooting and destruction of the grapevine on the first 

 appearance of this parasite is advised. 



On a bacteriosis of the tomato, G. L. Pavarino (Atti R. Accad. Lincei, Rend. 

 CI. Sci. Fis., Mat. e Nat., 5. ser., 20 {1911), I, No. 5, pp. 355-358).— Attention is 

 called to a bacterial disease of tomatoes occurring in Italy, which not only 

 produced a rotting of the fruit but caused the buds and young branches to 

 become twisted and curled, while on the larger branches and stems narrow 

 depressed, brownish, cankered areas developed. 



After comparing the characteristics of the causative organism with those 

 of Bacterium solanacearum, which produces a similar bacterial rot of tomatoes, 

 the author concludes that the Italian disease is caused by a new species, for 

 which the name B. hriosii is proposed. 



Some diseases of the banana {Ayr. News [Barbados'], 10 {1911), No. 233, 

 pp. 110, 111). — This is a discussion of the Panama disease and similar diseases 

 of the banana in Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Trinidad, and Surinam, in which 

 their symptoms and the causes proposed by different investigators are given. 



In Costa Rica and Panama the Panama disease is attributed by some investi- 

 gators to either a fungus or bacterial origin, while in Cuba a similar disease 

 showed the presence of a species of Fusarium in the discolored vascular bundles. 

 In Trinidad 2 stem diseases (moko and Panama) and a root disease (Maras- 

 mius) are noted. In Surinam the Panama disease has been very destructive, 

 especially to the Gros Michel variety of bananas. In a recent letter by Essed 

 to the Imperial Department of Agriculture of the West Indies the Panama dis- 

 ease is attributed to the attacks of a fungus named by him Ustilaginoidella 

 musreperda, related to the genus Ustilaginoidea which is one of the Hypocreales. 



A bacterial disease of bananas and plantains, J. B. Roree {Phytopatliology, 

 1 {1911), No. 2, pp. 45-^9, pis. ^). — The author describes a bacterial disease of 

 bananas, which was originally discovered on the " moko " fig, a variety of plan- 

 tain, but which has since been found generally in Trinidad on the Creole and 

 Fi'ench varieties of plantain, and on the Cavendish banana {Musa chiiiensis). 



The disease first affects the lower leaves, causing them to droop and have 

 a slightly yellowish tinge. Soon the petioles give way just at the base of the 

 leaf blade, while eventually the terminal leaf also bends over, and the plant dies 

 and rots down to the ground. Transverse sections of the pseudostem show 

 that practically all the vessels are discolored and filled with bacteria. These 

 yellow, dark brown, or blue-black, discolored bundles run back into the tree 

 stem, and thence into the young suckers and buds. 



The organism was isolated and the disease reproduced by inoculating healthy 

 banana plants with the pure cultures. The author holds that this disease is 

 not identical with the Panama disease and that it is also different from the 

 two known bacterial diseases of the banana. The name of Bacillus niusw n. sp. 

 is therefore proposed for the causative organism. 



The disease has been well controlled in Trinidad on small plantations by 

 the immediate destruction of a diseased plant as soon as it is found, and care- 

 ful sterilization by fire of all tools used in the work. 



