685 



at least is the result of my experience ; I have employed the salt in the manner de- 

 scribed for two years and part of a third, for I commenced with it in 1840. The 

 gi-eat dryness and consequent brittleness of the plants unfit them for the immediate 

 examination of concealed parts, but exposure to a moist air for a short time would di- 

 minish their fragility in a sufficient degree.'' — Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. xi. 33. 



The author recommends the use of the same salt in the cabinet con- 

 taining the herbarium, in order that the collection may be preserved 

 in a perfectly dry state. — Ed. 



349. Mr. E. Queketfs Observations ofi the Ergot of Grasses. We 

 gave the title of tliis paper in our report of the Proceedings of the Lin- 

 nean Society, (Phytol. 559) ; the following is an extract from the re- 

 cently published number of the Society's ' Proceedings.' 



" In March, 1840, twelve healthy grains of rye, of wheat and of barley, were 

 placed in a shallow glass vessel containing a sufficient quantity of distilled water to 

 moisten them, and covered with a glass shade. When germination commenced, an 

 ergot of wheat of the preceding year was immersed in the water, the sporidia on its 

 surface were detached, and the ergot itself was then removed. The same experiment 

 was performed with sporidia obtained from an ergot of Elymus sahulosus. Several 

 days afterwards, when the leaves had attained a length of three or four inches, the 

 young plants were conveyed into the country and planted side by side in a garden. 

 At the period of harvest there remained alive only four plants of the rye (one of which 

 had been infected from the ergot of Elymus, and the remaining three from that of 

 wheat), three of the barley, and four of the wheat. Of the rye scarcely a single ear 

 produced healthy grains, the paleos being generally quite empty ; but nine of the cars 

 contained ergots, some furnishing only a single specimen, and others as many as six. 

 The ears of the barley were filled with healthy grains, and only one apparently diseased 

 grain was detected ; while in the wheat the ears were full and without disease. 



" As in these experiments no grains from the same sample were sown which had 

 not been subjected to the influence of the sporidia of the fungus, Mr. Quekett made 

 in the following autumn another experiment with the view of supplying this defi- 

 ciency. Twelve grains of rye, of wheat and of barley, were again made to germinate 

 under similar circumstances to the last, and the sporidia obtained from the surface of 

 one of the ergots of rye produced in the first experiment were difl"used in the water in 

 which they grew. These were planted in October on the same estate, but not within 

 half a mile of the former spot ; and twelve healthy grains of each kind, which had 

 been carefully kept apart from the others, were planted in the same locality. Very few 

 of the plants arrived at maturity, and in August last there remained of the infected 

 plants only two of rye, two of wheat, and one of barley ; and of the uninfected plants 

 one of each kind. On each of the plants of rye which had been subjected to the in- 

 fluence of the sporidia an ergot was discovered, and the ears, as before, were almost 

 entirely devoid of healthy grains ; while the plants of wheat and barley subjected to 

 the same influence produced perfect ears and healthy grains. The three plants of rye, 

 wheat and barley, planted at the same time, without exposure to the sporidia of the 

 fungus, presented no unhealthy appearance. 



" Mr. Quekett argues that all the grains of rye subjected during germination to 

 the influence of the sporidia of the fungus, in both sets of experiments, having pro- 



