70 TJREDO FCETIDA, OR BUNT. 



odour, which may be perceived on passing 

 through the field where it prevails ; and if an 

 ear or two be broken in the hand, the smell is 

 intolerable. It resembles the stench of putrid 

 fish, and adheres to the fingers, from which it 

 is not easily removed. The farmers, as usual, 

 have given it a variety of names, as bladder- 

 brand, bunt, pepper-brand and sometimes smut; 

 which, however, properly belongs to the last- 

 described fungus. The uredo fcetidaj or bunt, 

 its most general name, confines its ravages to 

 the grain, completely filling the seeds it enters, 

 and replacing the flour by a black disgusting 

 fetid powder. This powder is a mass of 

 spores. To examine them, open an infected 

 grain, which is easily distinguished by its 

 rounded, scaly, and dead appearance. The 

 black matter will be found to have occupied 

 the whole interior, and may be now looked at 

 with the microscope. As in the case of the 

 other fungi, take a very small quantity, and 

 lay it on a strip of glass with a globule of water. 

 Over this place a bit of the thin glass previously 

 alluded to as useful in microscopic examina- 

 tions. This will prevent a lens of high power 

 touching the water. If considerably magnified, 

 the spores present the appearance of a number 



