

REED MACE FUNGUS 125 



ditches, on waste banks, etc., are kept cut, the conidial 

 form of the fungus is prevented from developing ; for if 

 this happens, conidia are almost certain to be conveyed 

 to cereals or pasture grasses by insects. 



Tulasne, Ann. Set. Nat., Ser. in. vol. xx. p. 5, pi. 1-4 



(1853). 



Rep. Commis. Agric. U.S., 1884, p. 212 (for account of 



effect on cattle). 



REED MACE FUNGUS 



(Epichloe typhina^ Tul.) 



A peculiar fungus, strangling the grass on which it is 

 parasitic. It first appears as a whitish crust of variable 

 length, completely surrounding the upper leaf-sheath, 

 causing abortion of the inflorescence, and checking growth 

 above the diseased portion. When in quantity it does 

 considerable injury if pasture grasses are attacked, and 

 scarcely any species of grass is exempt from this parasite. 

 According to Prillieux, grass containing much of this fungus 

 proves injurious to horses. The stroma of the fungus is 

 whitish at first, and in this condition bears numerous 

 minute, elliptical, hyaline conidia, which are capable of 

 germinating the moment they are mature, and thus ensure 

 the rapid spread of the disease. At a later stage the stroma 

 becomes ochraceous and rough with the projecting mouths 

 of myriads of perithecia imbedded in its substance. The 

 asci produced in these perithecia contain very slender, 

 hyaline, needle-shaped spores. 



PREVENTIVE MEANS. A difficult fungus to eradicate, 

 as it is often very abundant on grasses in uncultivated 

 tracts. I once saw many acres of Agrostis canina, L., 



