172 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Xortli Carolina collection in relation to numbers of Ilymenoniycetes, an 

 order which contains the Agarics, Boleti and other large and fleshy 

 species very dillicult to preserve except in dry weather. The number, 

 however, which I saw were few, and 1 was impressed at the time with 

 the A'ery few representatives of the order in Texas. Perhaps later in 

 the season that ine(iuality would not have been observed. I was also 

 surprised to find comparatively so few of the Entophytal Couiomycetes 

 which infest living plants, the rusts, smuts, bunts, &c. This diflerence 

 would also probably be less at a later period of the season, as it is mostly 

 towards autumn, when the seeds of grasses are matui-ing and the leaves 

 declining, that they are in the greatest profusion. 



Attention has been drawn in the last few years to the "Texan cattle 

 disease," and much interest has been elicited as to the nature and cause of 

 this disease. In the voluminous and very able " Report of the iSTew York 

 State commissioners in connection with the Metropolitan Board of Health 

 of Xew York City," this subject has been very thoroughly investigated, 

 and one of the results which seem to be definitely reached is the con- 

 stant and universal presence in the blood and bile of the diseased animals 

 of certain cryptogamic forms of vegetation (Micrococci and Cryi>tococci 

 so-called) primordial spores or cells, and which, nnder the skillful ma- 

 nipulation of Professor Hallier, of Jena, have developed themselves into 

 a distinct fungus plant which he names Coniothecium Stilcsianum, after 

 the distinguished microscopist on the 'New York board, who first discov- 

 ered them. Professor Hallier, in his letter of December 18, 18GS, to Dr. 

 Harris, of the Metropolitan Board, says in regard to the plant : " Perhaps 

 you may succeed in finding out the places where this Coniothecium grows 

 in nature. At all events, it is a parasitical fungus growing on plants, 

 and to be looked for in the food of the wild bullocks." 



Whether my examination of a limited portion of the flora of Texas, 

 and comprised in so short a time, Avill throw any light upon these inter- 

 esting questions, I cannot tell. My observations were made with as 

 much diligence and care as I could command, and present, as faithfully 

 as I am able to give them, the true condition of the pastures and the 

 cryptogamic vegetation of the region of country I visited. As far as I 

 was able to examine, I found no species of Coniothecium on pasture 

 gi'asses or on tlio dried hay. This, 1 know, is only negative evidence. 

 The spores of these minute fungi, wiien they exist, are generally in 

 great abundance, and may be wafted about by winds and carried by 

 rains into rivers and pools of surface water which the animals drink. 

 The nuxJuH operandi of these subtle agents of mischief, {semina mor- 

 horum,) and the manner in which they gain access to the animal system, 

 have long baCHed the scrutiny of scientific men. To establish the fact of 

 dircet agency in any of these forms of vegetation, and to trace satisfac- 

 torily the connection between cause and elfect, will require cumulative 

 proof of very strong and unquestionable character. The phases through 

 which they pass, and the different forms they assume at various periods 



