E. J. BUTLER. 17 
ears were deformed and virescent, and no grain was matured in 
affected plants. The disease on this host has been several times 
observed since in different parts of Italy. A -similar disease of 
maize was described by Cugini and Traverso (1902) near Modena, 
and its effects on this host as described by D/’Ippolito and 
Traverso (1903) are similar to those of Scl. graminicola on Setaria. 
On the other cereal hosts mentioned above, the damage caused 
appears to be less considerable, and outside of Italy these new 
cereal diseases, which nevertheless are threatening enough, appear 
to have attracted little notice. 
In the tropics I have been able to find only two references to 
disease produced by the genus, leaving out the “‘ lijer” disease of 
maize. In neither is the parasite correctly determined. One is 
that by Mr. Barber (1904) mentioned above; the other a brief 
description of a Pennisetum disease, similar to that in India, from 
specimens collected by Dr. W. Busse in German East Africa, by 
F. C. von Faber (1905). In the first of these the parasite is 
taken to be probably one of the Chytridiacee, since the mycelium 
was not clearly seen, and the sporangial stage not observed. The 
resemblance of the oogonia to the resting sporangia of some 
Chyridiacee is considerable. In von Faber’s paper the mycelium 
and oospores are described but not the sporangial stage, and the 
author was unable to determine if the Chytridiacean-like bodies 
(the oospores) were in organic connection with the mycelium, and 
attributes the disease to the mycelial infection. His description 
of the pathological changes in diseased plants differs somewhat 
from that given above. The glumes and bristles of the ear are 
said to be prolonged into leafy structures, a condition never seen 
in my specimens, and in the latter case difficult to accept on 
morphological grounds. The leaves are thickened by the develop- 
ment of a many layered hypoderm. Since, however, I have 
found a wide range of variation in the character of the deformity 
produced in different ears, it is quite possible that the action 
of the parasite in Africa differs from that in India. There 
appears to be no reason for supposing that the diseases are 
different. 
