THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. Gl 



Claviceps fungus which occurs on rye, on wheat, and on 

 many of the wild grasses. It is employed medicinally. 



In certain seasons ergot is much more common than 

 in others, and farmers and graziers believe that in such 

 seasons it is not uncommon for cattle to slip their young 

 through feeding on ergotized grasses. 



Mylitta, an underground fungus of the Neilgherry 

 Hills, is closely allied to, if really distinct from, the 

 so-called native bread of Tasmania. The natives of India 

 call it the ' little man's bread,' in allusion to a tradition 

 that the Neilgherries were once peopled by a race of 

 pigmies. The small hard Mylitta, M. lapidescens, Horn, 

 of China, is used there medicinally. 



Peridermium Thomsoni, Berkeley, fungus attacks the 

 Abies Smithiana on the Himalayas at elevation of 8000 

 feet. The leaves become reduced in length one -half, 

 curved, and sprinkled, sometimes in double rows, with 

 the large sort of this species, which at length prove fatal. 



Polyporus anthelminticus, Berkeley, grows at the root 

 of old bamboos, and is employed in Burma as an anthel- 

 rnintic. P. fomentarius, Fr., is the amadou or German 

 tinder. 



Puccinia graminis, the 'corn mildew,' is dimorphous, 

 having a one-celled fruit (Trichobasis), as well as a two- 

 celled fruit (Puccinia). The corn mildew and its accom- 

 panying ' rust ' occur wherever corn is cultivated, whether 

 in Australia or on the slopes of the Himalaya. The 

 same may be said of ' smut,' for Ustilago is as common 

 in Asia and America as in Europe. Dr. Cooke has seen 

 it on numerous grasses, as well as on barley from the 

 Panjab ; also a species different from Ustilago maydis 

 on the male florets of maize, from the same locality ; and 

 in 1870, one form of Ustilago made its appearance on. 



