12 A SCLKKOTIAT, I'lSKASE OF KT CE. 



Sclerotium Oryza- is not, however, the only member of this 

 genus which has been recorded as a disease of paddy. ScJ. <jb.i- 

 male, Ces., is known to attack rice in Borneo, while a new species, 

 Scl. u'vegvlare, is stated by Miyake to be the cause of some loss 

 in Japan. Both these can easily be distinguished from Scl. 

 Ovyxu' by the size of the sclerotia. The former has been found 

 on paddy at Noakhali, Eastern Bengal, but does not appear to 

 be of any economic significance in India. 



The genus Sclerotium was founded by Tode (11) in 1790, and, 

 at present, includes a number of species of which the fertile 

 stages are known in only a few cases. In 1816 Esenbeck (3) des- 

 cribed six of the more important species with figures ; he also 

 includes Thanatophijtnm Crocorum (Rhizoctonia Crocovum) and 

 Erysibc .suffvJfa as near relatives of this genus. In a work pub- 

 lished a few years later Fries (4) mentions fifty species and classi- 

 fies them into four tribes, a sub-division which has persisted to the 

 present day. It is interesting to note that he discards the name 

 Thanatophijtum for the more modern one of Rhizoctonia. In 

 1860 an enumeration of species peculiar to the Rhine district was 

 given by Fuckel (5) ; an earlier publication by Kiihn contains, 

 however, more interesting matter. Kiihn (G) gives some account 

 of the work of Leveilleand Tulasne (12), published a few years 

 previously, by which the connection between Sclerotium Clavus, 

 D. C, and Clariceps j)urpnrea, Tul., was established. He also 

 mentions that other species of the genus Sclerotium have their 

 perfect stages among the Clavaricicea\ It is, of course, now 

 well known that the original genus Sclerotium of Tode is an 

 artificial one, the different members of which are really the sterile 

 forms of widely separate fungi. Arjciricacra\ Polyporacew. 

 Clavariaceff, Ilypovrc.acpji and Pezizcicece are the groups 

 among which the fertile stages of different species of Sclerotium 

 are to be found. 



The Disease in the Field. 

 In India the first collection of ,SV/. Oryza- was made at 

 Noakhali. About a year later, in December 1912, fresh material 



