XXVIII. ] 



CLAVICEPS ON ERGOT. 



237 



were diseased and covered with a 

 remarkable Saprolegnia, with dis- 

 tinctly septate mycelium, not unlike 

 Fig. 24 in this work. To our mind 

 every fact points to the conclusion 

 that the variety Wilsoni, W.Sm., 

 owes its peculiar conformation to 

 the wet and shady position in which 

 it grows. 



"We have been particular in the 

 description and illustration of this 

 variety, as our friends Messrs. 

 Plowright and Wilson have de- 

 scribed this form under another 

 generic name in the Gardeners 1 

 Chronicle for 9th February 1884. 

 It is there described and illustrated 

 as a parasite of ergot under the 

 name of Barya aurantiaca, P. and 

 Wils. The authors state that they 

 have been unable to make the 

 sporidia reproduce ergot in wheat, 

 rye, and Poa trivialis, L. ; but this 

 fact need not cause special surprise, 

 if the whole growth is regarded, as 

 we regard it, as a mere monstrous 

 and abnormal form ; besides, the 

 experiments should have been made 

 with Glyceria fluitanS) K.Br., whence 

 the ergots were derived, and not sob 1 II x 1000 

 with wheat, rye, and Poa trivialis, 

 L. Mr. Wilson originally considered 

 the new variety to be a mere de- 

 graded condition of Claviceps pur- FIG. ill. Claviceps pur- 

 purea, TuL, and in this original P u a, Tui., var. Wilsoni, 

 determination we consider he was 5^ 

 correct. enlarged 1000 diameters. 



