ATTACKS THE FLOWEK. C7 



tliem as a vapory cloud. The next question 

 is, how the fungus acts upon the part of the 

 plant which it principally affects. 



When the plant is attacked by this fungus, 

 the first injuries are found upon the interior 

 portions of the flower, which render it com- 

 pletely abortive. In a short time afterwards, 

 the pedicels, or little stalks, to which the 

 florets are attached, swell and look hard and 

 fleshy. At length the whole is consumed ; 

 and the ear, particularly in the case of wheat, 

 becomes dismantled of all its reproductive or- 

 gans, and the remainder is powdered over with 

 the before-mentioned black, dusty smut, which 

 has a most disagreeable appearance. In all 

 specimens the author has ever seen, the fungus 

 has been visible only in the ear. M. Bauer, 

 however, states that it has been found in some 

 other portions of the plant. These instances 

 are certainly very rare, and have been noticed 

 by scarcely any observers. In some seasons, 

 immense quantities of it may be seen, during 

 summer, in the corn-fields, long before the rest 

 of the grain reaches maturity. All these ears 

 are, as we have said, destroyed by it, and there- 

 fore the amount of crop greatly diminished. 

 But as its spores are scattered to the winds for 



