27 



am troubled by the presence of certain mites or Acarinse which 

 apparently feed upon the fungi. It has occurred to me that these 

 may be instrumental in spreading the fungi, although I have accumu- 

 lated no evidence that such is the case. I mention the matter in the 

 hope that it will lead others to make observations that may possibly 

 lead to more definite results. Such mites must be abundant in 

 orchards ; in fact, it is established by observations already made 

 that they are so, but it appears that there is yet much to learn 

 concerning their economic importance. 



BANANA SCAB. 



THIS is a disease I have several times had occasion to notice in an 

 official capacity, and one that does a considerable amount of damage ; 

 it is, therefore, worthy of attention in the pages of this journal. 



Scab occurs on bananas from our Northern Rivers, from Queensland, 

 and from Fiji. I recollect having observed a similar disease on 

 bananas in the Sandwich and Samoan Islands and in the United 

 States of America, the fruit in the latter case being imported, in all 



Pig. 46. Secondary stage of banana scab. In this case the disease has attacked the half of 

 the fruit next the stem. The discolouration and cracks are well developed. 



probability, from the West Indies. From this it appears that the 

 disease is a wide-spread one, a fact that renders it all the more 

 important from an economic point of view. 



Banana scab is well known to fruit-vendors, though not under any 

 particular name. It seems to be looked upon by them as a more or 

 less normal feature of the fruit, and they account for it in a variety of 

 ways. " It is where the fruit rubs against the 'tree' " ; " It is due to 

 frost"; " It is due to too much sap"; " It is due to lack of sap"; "It is 

 sun-scald;" "It is caused by impoverishment of the soil"; "It's 

 nothing ! You'll find it on all bananas "; these are among the 

 numerous explanations offered by retailers. 



Whatever the cause may be, and we shall endeavour to state its 

 nature in the following pages, the disease is very common, the 



