Strate Museum or NATURAL History. 31 
throughout the season, and, so far as my observation goes, it attacks 
especially those plants that grow in exposed, sunny places, or on dry, 
light or sandy soils. ‘lo what extent the productiveness of the plants 
is diminished or the quality of the fruit is deteriorated by the attacks 
of this fungus, I have no data for determining. 
The generic name Ramularia is derived from the Latin ramulus, a 
little branch, and has reference to the disposition of the stems to bear 
branches occasionally. The species inhabit the living leaves of plants 
and produce spots on them which at once indicate the presence of the 
fungus. In some species several spores occur on one stem, they being 
attached end to end like the links of a chain. A species of Ramularia 
occurs in Europe on the leaves of the Indian strawberry, /ragaria 
Indica, but I have seen no specimens of it. The figure of it in 
“ Fungi Italici ” indicates that it has thicker stems than our plant and 
that they are swollen in the middle and narrower toward each end. 
Mucor inequalis, P’. Black Squash Mold. (Plate3, figs. 16-18.) 
This mold attacks squashes and pumpkins in Autumn, or even in 
Winter, if kept ina warm place. It does not require a very high 
temperature for its development. The mycelioid threads of the fungus 
permeate the cells of the squash or pumpkin, producing soft pulpy 
rotten spots in the flesh. These threads are comparatively coarse and 
they send off numerous branches in every direction. If their progress 
is not interrupted they continue to extend themselves until the whole 
squash is rendered worthless. On the surface or exposed part of the . 
affected places numerous thread-like stems grow up about one-twelfth 
of an inch high, each one of which bears a minute globose head. 
These stems and their swollen tips are at first of a milky-white color, the 
tips shining and appearing somewhat like a drop of dew ; but they 
gradually assume a darker hue and finally become blackish or bluish-’ 
black. The growth is often so dense and extensive that to the naked 
eye it appears like a black felty patch. The stems are generally un- 
divided, but occasionally one is found separating near the base into two 
branches. The heads contain the spores of the fungus. These are 
nearly black in color and very unequal in size, a character which 
suggests the specific name 7nequalis which has been given to the fungus. 
The spores vary from two to six ten-thousandths of an inch in length. 
They are also very variable in shape, some being nearly globose, others 
broadly elliptical, and others, especially the larger ones, more or less 
angular or irregular asif they had been so closely crowded in the head as 
to be pressed out of proper shape. This variable character of the spores, 
together with the dark color of the plant, serves to distinguish this 
mold from all other species known to me. Another somewhat similar 
species attacks the pumpkin occasionally, but itsstems are longer and 
permanently white and its spores are more uniform in size and shape. 
Several other species attack melons and gourds but all are readily 
distinguished from the present one. The growth of this mold is very 
rapid. A piece was cut from a pumpkin infected by the mycelium of 
its fungus and placed ina warm room. ‘I'he next day the cut surface 
was covered with a black patch of the mature mold. It is probable, 
however, that in a lower temperature its development is less rapid. 
Obvious methods of checking the spread of the fungus are: first, remove 
