38 PAMPHLET OF SIR J. BANKS. 



straw, as stated, naturally induces the observer 

 to conclude that the sporules enter by the 

 stomata. In other fungi, to be noticed here- 

 after, it is to be inferred that the process of 

 entering the plant is different. We now speak 

 only of puccinia. 



In the year 1804, the complaints of the 

 mischief done to the wheat were of so serious 

 a nature, that sir Joseph Banks caused some 

 stalks of the plants affected by what was then 

 merely called blight, to be carefully examined 

 by the microscope. The person employed was 

 the celebrated Mr. Bauer, who made drawings 

 of the fungi with his usual skill. A large 

 volume of these productions of the pencil of 

 that eminent observer is preserved in the British 

 Museum. Mr. Bauer dehneated the puccinia, 

 which Tiad vegetated on the straw and prevailed 

 to such an alarming degree, with extreme accu- 

 racy. He did not, however, detect the mycelium, 

 as Corda has done since. In 1805, a pamphlet 

 was pubhshed on the subject, asking for ob- 

 servations from intelligent agriculturists on the 

 origin and progress of the disease. This publi- 

 cation embodied a principle which is now more 

 regarded than it was in those times. It was 

 commended to the notice of farmers as justly 



