1900] STEM EELWORM. 83 



to " Stem Eelworm" presence; but no scientific investigation was made 

 of this pest being certainly the cause of the mischief until 1890, when, 

 from specimens forwarded to me at request of Mr. J. R. Eve, from the 

 Tingrith Manor Farm, near Woburn, Bedfordshire, I found that the 

 very peculiarly deformed growth of the plants was owing to infestation 

 of the Stem Eelworm [Tylenchus devastatrix), and gave a detailed 

 account of the attack, with figures, in my Annual Report for that year. 



Since that date no further observations of the attack, or at least 

 none of any importance, have been sent to me until the past season, 

 when I received a consignment of sixteen plants of Winter Beans from 

 Mr. Frank Osborn, of the Manor Farm, Barton, Ampthill, with in- 

 quiries as to the cause of their diseased state. 



The bundle of Bean plants was sent me on June 9th, and, of the 

 sixteen forwarded, eleven showed the whole length of the plant upwards 

 from ground level, and were now in full flower ; but, taking length 

 from the ground to the top (without allowing for the stem being some- 

 times distorted, or with one or two bends), the plants only averaged 

 from about eirilit to twelve inches in height. 



The plants were irregularly branched, forked, or distorted. In one 

 instance a plant was bent so that at about eight inches from the 

 ground it grew horizontally for about two inches, and then grew down- 

 wards almost straightly for about three and a half inches, with a good 

 display of flowers. Sometimes the plants were of two branches, the 

 central shoot between which had perished, and the lower part of the 

 stems for about a couple of inches above ground was discoloured with 

 various shades of brown down almost to black ; the leaves on this part 

 being stunted, black, and dead. In one case among the specimens 

 sent there was a withered thin shoot about three and a half inches 

 long, with a bushy top ; in another, the dwarfed stem was zigzagged 

 for part of its length with unhealthy developments of leaf-buds, or 

 flower, on the projecting parts. 



The stunted and deformed state of the plants was very observable, 

 and in most of the cases in which I split the stems up from the 

 ground I found them hollow for a good many inches of their length, 

 and covered on the inside with the brownish mealy kind of coating 

 which is a frequent accompaniment of presence of attack of T. devasta- 

 trix, commonly known as Stem Eelworm, in cases of Tulip-root in Oat 

 plants, and Stem-sickness in Clover, and which was noticeable in the 

 stems of Eelworm-infested Beans sent me in 1890. 



Where attack has been long established, and the stems are much 

 hollowed, and much coated with the yellowish or brown powder, it is 

 very possible that there may not be any, or at least very little, Eelworm 

 presence found in it, for the minute eel-like worms have a power of 

 wriggling themselves from a locality which has ceased to suit them ; 



