3- In cases where the disease breaks out in a healthy 



field the diseased area should be isolated by surrounding 



it by a trench a foot deep. 



4. Cuttings should be carefully selected and soaked 



in Bordeaux mixture for at least six hours and then 



tarred at the cut ends. 



Diagnosis : Gregarious or fasciculate at the base, 

 variable, flesh membranaceous, persistent ; pileus white, 

 broadly campanulate, then dingy white and plane or cup- 

 shaped, 1 5 mm. diamr. ; gills white, simple or bifurcate; 

 stem central, white, I5mm. long, apex tubiform, base 

 villous ; spores hyaline, continuous, irregularly oblong, ends 

 attenuated, rounded, 16-20 by 4-5 microns. 



LEWTON-BRAIN : West Ind. Bull., Vol. VI., p. 34. 



WAKKER AND WENT : De Ziekten van het Suikerriet 

 op Java, p. 194. 



Marasmius plicatus is reported to cause a root disease 

 of the sugar cane in Louisiana ; the same species, however, 

 occurs along with the sugar cane in Java where it is 

 considered to be harmless. 



MARASMIUS EQUICRINIS, MULLER. 

 (Horse-Hair Blight of Cacao.) 



The mycelium of the fungus appears like a tuft of horse- 

 hair caught in the twigs of the tree. Some of the threads 

 are closely attached to the bark, and the mycelium 

 resembles that of the " thread blight " in some respects. 

 The fungus is known to occur in the West Indies. 



Diagnosis : White to yellowish, pileus membranaceous, 

 convex, obtuse, 1-2 mm. broad ; stalk I cm. or more 

 long, bristly, rigid, black, shining, rising from the black, 

 horse-hair-like mycelium ; lamellae few, separated, paler 

 than the pileus. 



LEWTON-BRAIN : West Ind. Bull., Vol. VI., p. 87. 



STOCKDALE : West Ind. Bull., Vol. IX., p. 179. 



COOKE: Grevillea, Vol. VI II. 



Marasmius sarmentosus, Fr., is the cause of the horse- 

 hair blight of the tea plant and of several forest trees in 

 Ceylon. 



Marasmius sp. ; the root disease of the sweet potato, and 

 also of the Guinea corn, imphee and Indian corn, is thought 

 to be caused by a species of Marasmius. 



33 



