lOO 



NATURAL HISTORY BULLETIN. 



The mvcelium of the fungus is perennial in the fruit-bearing 

 branches of the hosts, and in the spring it attacks the young 

 ovaries, which continue to develop but in an abnormal manner; 

 the tissues apparently stimulated to great activit\- b}- the para- 

 sitic presence, become spongy: no seed is formed, and across 

 the hollow interior shreds of tissue may be stretched. There 

 is also a hypertrophic affection of the floral envelopes which 

 in some instances remain attached to the diseased ovaries. 



••Pockets*' are sometimes found upon the same branch with 

 normally developed fruits. 



The asci densely packed together, when mature protrude 

 far beyond the cuticle, giving the fruit a hoary appearance; 

 they are long, somewhat slender and cylindrical, usually with 

 rounded apices, slightly tapering below: they are 40-50;^ ^ong^ 

 and 8-iO;,t thick: stalk-cells io-i6a high cover the epider- 

 mal cells with a base about 8^ broad, and do not penetrate 

 between them. The nearly ball-shaped spores approximate 

 4-5M in diameter. Conidia are often seen in the asci, but they 

 develop only when the protoplasm of the ascus has not been 

 exhausted in the formation of the normal 8 spores. 



I have examined Prunitsdomcstica from Wisconsin, collected 

 bv Mr. A. B. Seymour, and one specimen from South Caro- 

 lina. These specimens agree well with the foreign exsiccati 

 used in comparison, as Eriksson, Fungi Parasitici Scandina- 

 vici 218. and Briosi e Cavara. I. Fungi Parassiti delle Piante 

 Coltivate od Utile. 105. The only Prumis zirg'iin'aiia I have 

 was collected in New York. This species seem.= to be iden- 

 tical with Rabenhorst- Winter, Fungi Europfei. 3473, upon 

 Priimis -padiis var. americaua. which Prof. L. H. Baile}' 

 writes me he thinks is very probably P. zirginiami. Sade- 

 beck states that E. ^ntui may be the species affecting the 

 fruit of Prumis padiis. Bird Cherry. I have examined speci- 

 inens of this host from the herbariums of P. Magnus and 

 from Eriksson's Fungi Parasi. Scand.. 79: the microscopic 

 appearance is very similar to P. doincstica and P. nrginiana. 

 Upon P. padii< the stamens remain adherent to the diseased 

 ovaries. 



