CH. XXVII.] 



ERGOT. 



215 



grass, Poa ann wa,L.; floating sweet- 

 grass, Glycerin fluitans, R.Br. ; tall 

 fescue - grass, Festuca elatior, L. ; 

 meadow fescue-grass, Festuca pra- 

 tensis, Huds. ; wheat, Triticum 

 sativum, L. ; wheat-grass, T. repens, 

 L. ; rye-grass, Lolium pefenne, L. ; 

 darnel -grass, Lolium temulentum, 

 L. ; lyme- grass, Elymus arenarius, 

 L. ; rye, Secale cereale, Welld. ; 

 barley, Hordeum distichum, L., on 

 species of Agrostis, and no doubt 

 on many other grasses, including 

 rice, Oryza sativa, L. A large North 

 American species of lyme-grass, 

 sometimes seen in our gardens 

 under the name of Elymus gigan- 

 teus, Vahl., produces a very large 

 ergot. 



In describing ergot we will take 

 a spike of ergotised rye, and after 

 examining one of the ergots which 

 it has produced, we will follow up 

 the life-history of the fungus and 

 show how it produces other ergots 

 like itself. We will then glance at 

 the effects of ergot on man and 

 other animals, and see how the 

 attacks of ergot on grasses may be 

 lessened or prevented. 



If we take a spike of ergotised 

 rye Secale cereale, L., as illus- 

 trated, natural size, at F4g. 97 

 we see one or more of the rye 

 seeds replaced by blackish hornlike 



* FIG. 97. Spike of ergotised Rye, Secale 

 cereale, L. Natural size. 



