260 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Vol. XXV, 1»18 



ill lilies on the leaves of grasses it infects. This was well s'.iown 

 in the figures by Osner, Trelease'' and by the writer.' 



Attention is called to the dwarfing of tiie blue grass, from the 

 same cause, which has been found quite coinmon in Iowa for a 

 great many years The purpose of this note is to call attention to 

 the fact that the same stool of timothy will produce the smut for 

 years. The wi-itei- thought for many years that this smut is a 

 l^erennial. He has noticed it in Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri. 

 The following is a good illustration of its occurrence. The plant 

 noted was in the Missouri Botanical Garden during the spring of 

 1886. It was found on the same stool of grass the following seas- 

 on, 1887. When the writer came to Ames in 1889 he naturally 

 looked for timothy smut on the walk leading from the laboratory 

 to the drive way, and found an abundance of limothy and many 

 otlu^r plants diseased as mentioned in tw^o publications.^ Its 

 perennial nature was mentioned in the publications ; also that 

 it was found on ciuaek grass. The disease was found to be 

 abundant in 1890 and 1891. Timothy smut could always be 

 found on blue grass where it occurred on timothy, but it was 

 somewhat harder to detect. 



In one of the early papers on the subject of the Wild Rye 

 Smiit'^ (Urocystis agropyri (Preuss) Schorr) the writer noted 

 its perennial character. It has always been found in abundance 

 on isolated stools where the dried leaf was found : the majority 

 of the culms and leaves show the fungiis. It is more or less 

 common in Iowa. It does not fluctuate with the season. The 

 diseased plants are somewhat dwarfed and the leaves torn into 

 shreds. On the specimens the fungTLS makes its appearance 

 same what earlier in June than wild rye blooms, but it may con- 

 tinue to produce spores during the entire siumner. Jja&t summer 

 the w^riter removed some plants of Elymus sp. from Graceville. 

 ^Minnesota, (cutting oft' the leaves), to the college green house, 

 aiul during the fall and winter an abundance of Vrocystis ap- 

 peared on the greenhouse plants. 



It may also be noted that it occurs on (piack grass in some 

 sections of the United States, as reported in the papers referred 

 to. In Iowa, at least, it has not been found on quack grass. The 



"Rep. U. S. Dept. Aprl.. 1885, 87-SS, pi. 18. 



'Li. H. Pummel, J. B. Weems and F. Lamson-Scribner, in Grasses of Iowa. 

 I'.iill. Iowa Geol. Survey 1. 2.")4-256, pi 2, f. 122. In this paper the fungus was 

 i-eferred to Tilletia as had previously been done. 



"Bull. Iowa Geol. Survey 1, 2.'i4-256, /. 122. Also Some Funs;us Diseases of 

 Iciwa l<'orage Plants. Separate from Hull. Iowa Crop Service. 



='Pammel, Weems and Scribner. Hull. Iowa Geol. Sui-\ey 1. 2ri7, /. /.'", pi. ^ 



