[Vol. 2 



410 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



seem to occur more commonly from southern France east- 

 ward to Bavaria and Hungary and southward to the Mediter- 

 ranean. No information is available with respect to its occur- 

 rence in Russia. On the ileshy root crops and on the potato 

 the fungus has often been reported from central France and 

 Germany northward through Denmark, Norway and Sweden, 

 and also on the sugar beet in Italy. In Denmark it appears 

 to be found oftener on species of Trifolium than on alfalfa. 



The root felt disease is certainly not unknown to market 

 gardeners and others throughout England, yet there are rela- 

 tively few references to it in pathological literature. It would 

 appear that Gtissow has observed the fungus in England, 

 for in speaking of diseased tubers from a farm in Essex 

 he says, ' ' They were covered with a dull reddish-brown web- 

 bing, which was raised into numerous points, as if grains of 

 sand were below it, ' ' but in view of his reference in the same 

 article to the commoner potato fungus no definite statement 

 should be made. Salmon's account ('08) of the disease of 

 seakale, described as "a felted mass of violet spawn or my- 

 celium," evidently refers to this species. 



In the United States R. Crocorum was first reported from 

 Nebraska by Webber ( '90) on lucerne. He states that it was 

 rare in the Nebraska flora at that time. Heald ('0G) lists 

 the fungus as among disease-producing organisms prevalent 

 in Nebraska during 1905. The record is as follows: "Root 

 rot. Rhizoctonia violacea Tul. reported from a single locality: 

 Platte County. Not common in that region. ' ' The complete 

 observations made in 1906 were not reported until later, in 

 which account, however, Heald ('11) fails to make note of 



Webber's earlier report of its occurrence. Freeman ('08) 

 refers to the fungus as the cause of a well established disease 

 of alfalfa in Kansas, and a specimen received by the writer 

 in 1911 from that state indicates that it is identical with the 

 European fungus. More recently it has been mentioned by 

 Gandara ( '10), and the inference is that it is found on alfalfa 

 in Mexico. The first occurrence on potato in America is from 

 a locality in Oregon (Bailey, '15). No well authenticated 

 instance of the occurrence of this fungus in South America, 



