DISEASES OF PLANTS. 567 



A contribution to the kno^vledge of cereal rusts, H. Klebahn 



{Ztsclir. Fflaiizenkrcmh., 10 {1900), ]\\). '2,j)j^. 70-90, fg.^. J).— Investi- 

 gations are reported on the occurence of rusts on wheat, barley, and 

 rye, inoculation experiments with sporidia upon the teleutospore hosts, 

 rust spores in the air, investigations on the alternate generations of 

 rusts, wintering of rusts, eti'ect of using seed from infected plants, and 

 studies on the anatomy and biology of the yellow rusts. 



The author's investigations led to the following conclusions : The 

 sporidia of cereal rusts can not infect cereals, nor can the sporidia of 

 any of the heteroecious rust fungi infect their teleutospore hosts. 

 From carefully conducted experiments there seems little to substan- 

 tiate the claim that rusts may be communicated by sowing seed from 

 infected plants. Such cases may be usually traced to outbreaks of the 

 disease in the early spring. The probable agency of winds and ani- 

 mals in transmitting rusts is recognized, and further investigations 

 along this line are in progress. There appears to be too little atten- 

 tion paid to the secidial phases of the rusts, and these should be known 

 for every species. The brown rust of rye {Puccinia disj>e7'm) has its 

 secidia upon Anchusa arve^isis and A. offinalh, but not the wheat brown 

 rust {P. triticinti), nor P. simplex. The anatomical and biological 

 investigation of P. glumaris showed some important specializations 

 that require further study. There was no indication that any of the 

 rust fungi, which were without a perennial mycelium, are able to 

 infest their host plants the following growing season, the presence of 

 disease being attributed to a new infection. 



Parasites of ■wheat, L. Mangin {Overs. K. Dmiske Yidensl'. Selsk. 

 F(yr1iandl., 1899, pp. 213-272, pis. 3, figs. 17; cibs. in Jour. Roy. 

 Micros. Soc. [London], 1900, No. 3, p. 366).— In this paper the con- 

 ditions of wheat attacked by Septoria grrmiimcvi and Z/p>tosphwria 

 herpotrichoides are described. The spores of S. granmvum put out 

 germinating filaments which perforate the epidermis, never entering 

 through the stomata, their action being purely chemical. The specific 

 characters of the fungus are constant and its ascospore form is as jei 

 unknown. The second disease, to which the name "pietin'' is given, 

 is caused by the Leptospheeria and is often accompanied l>y a number 

 of other fungi, among them Ophioholus granmiis, Pyrenophora triclios- 

 tonia, and xVspergillus circinattis, the latter being considered a new 

 species. Cultures, according to the author, demonstrated that Dlc- 

 tyosporiwn opaciun is the conidial form of Lcptospjluerla herpotrieJioides. 



On the so-called " grain " of wrapper tobacco, W. C. Sturgis 

 {Connecticut State Sta. Ppt. 1899, pt. 3, 262-264, pt. 7).— It is stated 

 that tobacco leaves used for wrappers frequently exhibit, after curing, 

 numbers of minute, blister-like pimples thickly scattered over the 

 surface of the 'leaf, giving it a somewhat granular appearance. This 



