28 THITRY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 
to suppose that if every cultivator of corn would go through his fields 
at the proper time, that is, as soon as the excrescences have made their 
appearauce, and cut off and burn up every excrescence, he would 
thereby prevent the dissemination of millions of these ‘fungus spores 
and do much toward the prevention of the continuance and spread of 
the evil. Though the winds may carry the spores to great distances it 
is probable that most of them fall to the ground in the field in which 
they are produced. In this event it is easy to see that corn raised for 
several consecutive years on the same piece of ground would be more 
likely to be affected with smut than corn raised where there is a con- 
stant rotation of crops. 
The specific name Maydis, applied to this fungus, is derived from the 
specific name Mays, which belongs to its supporting plants. Ustilago 
Zee, Schw., is a synonym, the specific part of which is derived from 
Zea, the generic name of Indian corn. ‘The specific names of fungi 
are often derived from the name of the plant they inhabit. 
Helminthosporium inconspicuum, C. & #. Obscure corn-leaf Fun- 
gus. (Plate 3, figs. 4-6.) If the lower leaves of corn stalks be ex- 
amined toward the end of Summer, some of them will be found to be 
dead and discolored at and near the pointed end. This discoloration 
is sometimes continuous, involving the whole outer half of the leaf, 
and sometimes it is interrupted and forms spots of various sizes and 
shapes. ‘The spots, by increasing in size, become confluent, and thus 
a leaf at first spotted may soon become uniformly discolored. The 
discoloration resuits from the death of the leaf tissues and the destruc- 
tion of the green coloring matter of the leaf cells, the affected part ap- 
pearing to the observer like so much dead leaf. The fungus that 
causes the discoloration is too minute to be easily seen by the unaided 
eye. But if a hand-glass of moderate magnifying power is brought 
into use, the surface of the dead spots will appear as if adorned with 
a slight pubescence or hairiness. With good eyes, well trained, this 
apparent hairiness can be seen in a favorable light by looking horizon- 
tally across the surface of the affected part. By microscopic exam- 
ination it is found that this appearance is not due to the presence of 
hairs, but of a minute fungus. Numerous short, stiff, dark-colored 
articulated threads grow up from the surface, each one of which bears 
at its apex one or two nearly black spores. ‘These are about as long 
as the threads and a little thicker. ‘hey are generally from thirty- 
five to forty-five ten-thousandths of an inch long, and about one- 
seventh or one-eighth as broad. ‘They are divided into several cells by 
dark transverse partitions. In the original description of the species 
these partitions are said to vary in number from three to five, but I 
have generally found them more numerous, running up even to eight 
or nine. ‘The life history of this fungus has not yet been traced and 
therefore it is not known where it passes the Winter. The genus to 
which it belongs takes its name from two Greek words, one of which 
signifies a worm, and the other, a spore. It was doubtless given he- 
cause of some fancied or real resemblance between the spores of some 
species and a worm, ‘The species of Helminthosporium usually in- 
habit vegetable matter already dead. From the habit the present 
species has of attacking the lower leaves only, which already have had 
their vigor impaired by age, and their vitality diminished by partial 
