252 GRASSES OF IOWA. 



S swingle says: "There are no accurate statistics as to the 

 amount, of damage caused by them. In many localities, how- 

 ever, the losses are very great, and without doubt the losses 

 in the en'ire United States amount to many millions of dollars 

 annually. In some fields' ~)0 and eveu as high as 75 per ceat of 

 the he ids are smu tei, and in addition the healthy grain is so 

 contaminated with the fetid spore ; as to be almost worthless 

 for Hour and worse than useless for seed. " 



TiUetiatritici (Bjerk) Winter. — This species is more commonly 

 referred t^ by European writers than the T. foetens. Thus 

 Tubeuf,*'" Prank, t Loverdo,|, Sorauer,§ Plowright, || Wolf and 

 Massee*^ all meotion its common occunence in Germany, 

 Franca and England In the Mississippi valley it does not 

 appear to be as common as the specimens above described. 

 Bessey** reports this species as occurring in Iowa in 1884 and 

 since. Harwood has reported! f it as common in Michigan. 

 Keller .nan and SwingleJJ report it in Kansas. In a general way 

 this fungus is much the same as the former species. Harwood 

 notes that wheat attacked by this species has shorter stalks 

 than th3 normal It affects the kernels and the chaff, spread 

 iog as in the last species. The spores are smaller, globose, 

 with net like ridges, 16-20" in diameter. This last character 

 easily distinguishes this form from the other smut. Its life 

 history is the same. All of the heads of a stool are affected. 



In European mycological works it is usually referred to as T. 

 caries, by Sorauer, Prank and others. Tubeuf and Saccardo§§ 

 refer to it as T. irifici, while Massee, in his revision, places it 

 under the came of T caries. 



Tilletia secalis (Corda) Kuehn. — Bunt of rye was described by 

 Kuehnllll in 1876. Though quite destructive in Europe, Ger- 

 many and Bohemia, it has not b en found in this state. The 

 kernels are fill-:d with a brownish-black powder. Like the 



*Pflanzenkrankhelten .318. 



1. c. Krankhelten der Pflanzen. 117. i EdJ 

 •f-Les Mai idles. Crypt. 86. 

 iPllanzenkranklielten. 185. 

 SBrltish Uredlaea?and UstilaKine;i'. 2i'i. 



II Der Brand des Getreides seine Ursachen und seine Verhutung. 12. Halle. 

 •'Wolf and Massee. Kew. Bull, of Miscel. Inf. 1899: 142. 

 **Bull. Iowa Agrl. Coll. Dept. Bot. 1884: 119. 

 t+Bull. Michigan Agrl. Exp. Sta. 87: 6. 



$:):Prellmlnary e.xperlments with fungicides for stlnklns smut of wheat. Hull. 

 Ivans. Agrl. Exp. Sta. 12. 

 SSSyll. Fung. 7: 481 

 nil Bot. Zeit. 1876: 470 



