History of Aiiwial Plagues. i6i 



of the province of Este, which is usually the most fruitful of all, 

 the vintage had never been so poor^ whole bunches of grapes 

 being eaten away slowly by this pest. Nuts alone, which, stramre 

 to say, in the preceding years had been very scanty, were not 



the growth of the plant its virulent contents flow like a poison through the inner- 

 most tissues, and at length attack the peduncle or axis of the spikelets of the ear, 

 raising up the essential organs and reducing them to a rudimentary state. Brong- 

 niart, who made this species the special subject of observation, states that the 

 fleshy mass which is occupied by the fungus consists entirely of uniform tissue, 

 presenting large, almost quadrilateral cavities, separated by walls, composed of one 

 or two layers of very small cells filled with a compact homogeneous mass of very 

 minute granules, perfectly spherical and equal, slightly adhering to each other, and 

 at first green, afterwards free or simply conglomerate towards the centre of each 

 mass, and of a pale rufous hue ; at length the cellular walls disappear, the globules 

 become completely insulated, and the whole mass is changed into a heap of powder 

 consisting of very regular globules, perfectly alike, black, and just like the repro- 

 ductive bodies of other fungi. . . . The spores in this species are exceedingly minute. 

 It has been ascertained that forty-nine of them would be contained within a space 

 the one hundred and sixty thousandth part of a square inch ; hence one square inch 

 of surface would contain little less than eight millions. These myriads of spores 

 are shed from the ears, and nothing remains but the barren matrix in which they 

 were borne when the farmer proceeds to gather in his crops. At that time he sees 

 no more of the "smut," all remembrance of it for the time is gone ; his only thought 

 is to stack his com in good condition. But the millions of spores are dispersed, 

 ten millions at least for every ear that has been "smutted," and will theynot, many of 

 them, reappear next year, and thus year after year, with as much certainty as the 

 grain upon which they are parasitic ? Like many of the parasitic fungi, so destruct- 

 ive in the farm and the garden, this species belongs to the family in which the 

 spores are the distinctive feature. After many botanical changes, the " smut " is at 

 length regarded as a fixed resident in the genus Ustilago, with the specific name of 

 Scgetum, which latter signifies "standing corn ; " it is therefore the Ustilago, or Smut 

 of the standing corn.'' — Ibidem, p. 76. 



The reports as to the effects of these fungi on the health of animals are conflict- 

 ing. Some authors assert that they are innocuous, others that they cause disease. 

 Among the latter we may cite Gerlach, who reports that geese and ducks to which 

 he had given the refuse of bunted wheat died from anthrax. A more striking ex- 

 ample is the following : 'In the years 1842 and 1844, I have observed in one 

 farm a gangrenous fever and real anthrax among horses. Instead of oats they had 

 been fed on wheat, and then on the refuse of bunted wheat ; shortly afterwards 

 they were attacked by indigestion, the foeces were hard, and the balls which were 

 evacuated were covered with flakes of mucus ; daily they were seized with colics, 

 and the slightest occasion, such as a chill, over-exertion, &c., would bring on a 

 typhus or gangrenous fever and a true form of anthrax of such a violent description, 

 that in one day two or three animals would become ill and die.' In the same jour- 

 nal (Magazin/iir Thierhcilktinde) an observation is given which would go to prove 

 that the forage oI)tained from wheat that has been affucled with smut will cause 

 abortion in cows, and another observation that it may induce what is known as the 



'arthritis' of lambs. 



II 



