NOTES AND QUERIES. 223 



spread ; considerable damage is being done by the extensive 

 defoliation of the shoots. 



Hypoderma strobicola, Rostr., a closely allied species, was found 

 during April of this year at Murthly, causing defoliation of a 

 specimen tree of Pinus Strobus var. nana. On the Continent this 

 species causes considerable damage to Pinus Strobus, but it has 

 not been previously recorded in Scotland. 



Malcolm Wilson. 



The Occurrence of Botrytis Douglasii on the 

 Douglas Fir. 



Diseased specimens of the Douglas fir, collected by Mr 

 J. Murray in Perthshire and forwarded through the headquarters 

 of the Forestry Commission in Scotland, were found to be 

 attacked by Botrytis Douglasii, a disease which is widespread 

 on the Continent but which up to the present does not appear 

 to have been recorded in this country. The specimens, which 

 were taken from the lateral branches of a tree about 18 years 

 old, have a very characteristic appearance. The terminal 

 portion of the shoot is brown and withered, and the stem, as 

 a result of the attack of the fungus, loses its rigidity and bends 

 over a few inches behind the apex; from 4-6 inches of the 

 branch are killed. The brown leaves near the apex usually 

 persist, but those further back fall and the bent portion of the 

 stem is generally bare. The delicate grey mycelium of the 

 fungus, which can be seen with a lens on both stem and leaves, 

 produces during the summer numerous conidia, which germinate 

 at once in water and infect the young developing shoots and 

 needles. In the autumn small black sclerotia are produced, 

 and burst through the bark often under the old bud scales. 

 These sclerotia, if kept in a damp atmosphere, produce numerous 

 branched conidiophores which bear large numbers of conidia. 

 In the Scottish specimens both conidiophores and sclerotia are 

 present. 



It is probable that Botrytis Douglasii is identical with the 

 common saprophytic mould Botrytis cinerea. Several investi- 

 gators have shown that it is capable of growing as a parasite 

 on silver fir, larch, and spruce as well as Douglas fir, and it 

 has been recorded on the larch and Scots pine in England. 

 Under damp conditions it spreads rapidly and may cause 

 considerable damage. Malcolm Wilson. 



