THfe BUD-ROT OF PALMS IN INDIA. 247 



through its thickness. In another there was a spot affecting only 

 about half the breadth of the petiole, the rest and the blade above 

 being still green and healthy. 



The apex of the stem is sometimes also affected. In one case 

 observed the inner part of the ci'own was destroyed and the young 

 wood below the diseased leaf-bases was soft and discoloured with 

 pink and brown patches. Tliese contained living mycelium of the 

 parasite. 



The spots on the leaf-sheaths vary much in size, from only just 

 visible to six inches or more across. In the inner sheaths they are 

 white at first, becoming brown or reddish later on. On the outer 

 sheaths they may eventually be black. A very early result of the 

 attack is the collapse of affected cells, which leads to the spots being 

 sunk below the level of the surface of the rest of the sheath (see pho- 

 tograph on plate III). The margin of the depression is usually 

 bounded by a raised rim. The early spots are dry and hard and may 

 either be quite free from any external parasitic growth or covered 

 with a white mycelial web. Later on, particularly in the soft heart 

 of the bud, the diseased areas are invaded by numbers of saprophy- 

 tic organisms, bacteria, moulds and insect larvee, and the whole is 

 converted into a foul-smelling rotten mass. 



On the leaf-blades the spots are usually smaller than on the 

 sheaths, not often exceeding an inch in diameter on individual 

 segments. They are straw-coloured in the centre and bounded 

 by a broad dark-brown margin. 



The flow of toddy from diseased palmyras is checked soon after 

 the death of the central shoot. In a case observed a palm was mark- 

 ed for tapping by the Abkari officers in January 1908, after the 

 toddy drawer had climbed and carefully examined it and pronounced 

 it healthy. The central shoot was found withered in the first week 

 of April, but the tree was still being tapped. The quantity of juice 

 obtained was only about one-half that from healthy trees, and the 

 quality was bad. It is the practice to mix the juice from such trees 

 with that from healthy trees, as it is otherwise unpalatable. 



