W. MCRAE 227 



(2) Towards the end of June when the monsoon has set in steadily and 

 soon after the fruit-rot has appeared, infected trees begin to shed their leaves, 

 a few at first, then in gradually increasing numbers, and this goes on for about 

 a month or even six weeks. It is usually most noticeable from the middle of 

 July to the middle of August, after which time the trees cease to shed their 

 leaves to any appreciable extent. Some trees lose all their leaves and stand 

 quite bare with the rotting fruits or the fruit-stalks showing conspicuously ; 

 but most lose only a portion of their leaves. Many, however, do not shed 

 their leaves to any appreciable extent, and these are invariably trees that have 

 few or no fruits. By August the foliage on the trees looks decidedly thin, 

 and the ground is covered with a thick coating of fallen leaves. Usually the 

 leaf falls as a whole, but one or more leaflets may come off separately, and the 

 leaf-stalk may remain for a few days attached to the shoot. On the green 

 leaf-surface there are often dull grey spots which are somewhat circular in 

 outline, or several run together forming an irregular patch varying in size up 

 to 3 or 4 centimetres. Minute drops of coagulated latex are often present 

 towards the interior of the spot, and near the edge a faint glistening appearance 

 may be seen. The stalk of the leaf or of a leaflet frequently has a discoloured 

 brownish spot which in well marked cases is shrunk slightly below the general 

 level of the surface, and has droplets of coagulated latex. Leaves sometimes 

 assume shades of yellow and red before they fall, as they do in the normal season 

 of leaf-fall in December-January. Quite a considerable number, however, may 

 be quite green when they fall, with no discoloration on the leaf-surface or on 

 the stalk. After this second leaf-fall a certain amount of new flush is produced, 

 but when trees are badly attacked, they may stand bare till the natural periodic 

 renewal of leaves in January. 



(3) After the leaves have fallen off, the current year's branches die back. 

 This may extend along a small branch to the junction with its parent branch, 

 or through a series of branches up to the one springing from the parent stem. 

 The rate of dying-back depends on the nature of the shoot. Long shoots that 

 have grown quickly die back more rapidly than shorter shoots that have grown 

 but a few inches iu the same period. Cases have been met with in which a 

 shoot has died back two feet in three months and others in which the die-back 

 has continued during two seasons. 



(4) From the living proximal regions of such branches fresh shoots are 

 produced about the middle of February, and begin to wilt about the middle of 

 March. Tiny droplets of latex may appear on the leaves and leaf-stalks. The 

 leaflets shrivel, dry up, and fall off, leaving the leaf-stalk attached to the twig 



