1905.] on Fungi. 29 



illustration is that given bj "Woronin, in which, bees having conveyed 

 pollen, together with the spores of a Sclerotinia, to the stigmas of 

 certain species of Vaccinium, the pollen-tubes and the fungus-hyphaa 

 race each other down the style, and the latter usually win, and destroy 

 the ovules. Moreover, everyone knows how corrosive and destructive 

 the pollen-tubes of pines, etc., are in the tissues, and we must not 

 forget that pollen-grains are spores. 



The second case dwelt on by the lecturer is that of pellagra, a 

 disease to which the ill-nourished peasantry of maize-growing countries 

 are liable in bad seasons, when the crops are poor and mouldy. 



Cene and Beste, in 1902, referred the malady to the presence of 

 an Aspergillus in the bad grain. They also extracted from this 

 mould a highly toxic body. Mariani, in 1903, then showed that 

 the blood of patients cured of pellagra is antitoxic to the poison of 

 the disease. 



The lecturer pointed out that, without committing ourselves to 

 any premature opinion as to the absolute accuracy of these views, 

 there are two increasing classes of evidence which support his sus- 

 picion that numerous as yet insufficiently examined cases of this kind 

 will turn out to be due to what he calls "lurking parasites" in bad 

 grain and fodders. 



The first is the large class of mycoses now referred to the poison- 

 ous action of such a "mould" as Aspergillus, a fungus shown to 

 abound in enzymes and toxic bodies. The second is the increasing- 

 number of cases of poisoning by fodder and grain-plants, normally 

 wholesome, but found to be deleterious in certain circumstances oi* 

 years. 



Cases of poisonous wheat, rye, oats, etc. — the " Taumel-Getreide," 

 " Taumel-Roggen " of the Germans — have long been known, and the 

 lecturer quoted cases where similar noxious effects are traced to the 

 presence of Ustilaginefe, Helminthosporium, Cladosporium, and other 

 fungi. 



A notable case is that of the Darnel, a tiresome weed in some 

 countries. The ancients — e.g. Galen — knew that darnel in bread 

 causes dizziness, headache, and sickness, and thought that neglected 

 wheat, etc., was transformed into darnel. Hofmeister, in 1892, 

 examined and extracted the toxic bodies and confirmed the repeated 

 statements as to their deleterious and even fatal action on animals. 



Yet it was not until 1S9S that Vogl discovered the existence of a 

 mycelium in the seed-coats of the poisonous darnel, and in the same 

 year this was confirmed Ijy Hanausek and Nestler, though they did 

 little beyond recording the presence of a fungus. 



In 1903, Freeman, in the lecturer's laboratory at Cambridge, worked 

 out the details, and left no doubt that the poisonous property is due 

 to the fungus. 



The lecturer then pointed out that a whole series of questions 

 concerning these and similar diseases now being investigated in his 



