THE BROWN FUNGUS. 35 



BROWN FUNGUS OF PARKIN. 



J. Parkin 58 in writing of the Ceylon forms of fungi parasitic on Aley- 

 rodes, mentions having found on three different kinds of teav^s a brown 

 sterile fungus, which he thinks is similar to the one described by Webber 

 on Aleyrodes citri. He also states that these brown pustules were in many 

 cases closely associated with Aschersonia aleyrodis of Webber, and suggests 

 the possibility of one being a form of the other. In regard to this point he 

 writes : 



Intermingled with the brightly colored Aschersonia stromata on the leaf of 

 Flemingia strobilifera were other brown ones. Many of these latter were evidently 

 old or arrested Aschersonia stromata, as sections of them revealed closed pycnidia. 

 Others again were flatter, more nearly resembling Webber's brown fungus, thus sug- 

 gesting the possibility of all these sterile pustules being really connected with Ascher- 

 sonia. The two fungi often appear in association on the same scale and even on the 

 same leaf. Webber mentions that A. aleyrodis was present on those orange bushes 

 containing also the "brown mealy wing fungus". In the Ceylon specimen on Meme- 

 cylon the two were intimately associated. Atmospheric conditions such as dryness 

 may also influence the development of the Aschersonia as to induce it to assume a 

 sterile resting form. This, when conditions are again favorable, might send out in- 

 fecting hyphae over the leaf surface. Webber's account of how this brown fungus 

 develops and spreads hardly favors such a view. However, its close association with 

 Aschersonia is a point to be kept in mind. By cultures perhaps this sterile form might 

 be induced to form some fructifications, and so a clue to its nature and relationship 

 might be obtained. 



The cultures of Aschersonia aleyrodis and Aschersonia flavo-citrina made 

 by the author on various media and at different times of year with varying 

 amounts of water, never showed any tendency to develop the brown sterile 

 form of the Brown fungus. In Florida there seems to be no evidence to 

 indicate any connection between this sterile Brown fungus and the Ascher- 

 sonias parasitic upon Aleyrodes citri. 



METHODS OF INTRODUCTION. 



Webber, in the bulletin previously referred to, describes in some detail 

 the method of introducing this fungus into trees infested with Aleyrodes 

 citri by pinning in leaves, or by planting young fungus-bearing trees in 

 such a way that their leaves would come in contact with the larvae-bearing 

 leaves to be infected with fungus. E. W. Berger 59 has recently produced 

 some infection by grinding up the brown stromata, stirring with water, and 

 spraying this water upon infested leaves. 



A number of attempts have been made by the writer to grow cultures of 

 this fungus in the laboratory, but so far he has been unsuccessful. In one 

 case where stromata of the brown fungus were placed close to a drop of 

 agar in a hanging drop culture, short tortuous hyphae were seen to grow 



158 Annals Roy. Bot. Card. Peradeniya, Vol. Ill, Part I, p. 52, 1906. 

 C9 Fla. Exp. Sta. Bui. 88, p. 64, 1906. 



