260 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



the disorganization of the functions through the 

 stoppage of supplies from the roots. It is this 

 stoppage of the supplies which,as already stated, 

 directly causes the tree to die from want of 

 water. The fungus attacking the roots in the 

 West Indies was identified by Stockdale, we 

 believe, as belonging to the genus Botryodi- 

 -blodia, and Stockdale concluded that the fungus 

 which he found fruiting on the leaves was the 

 same as that which he had observed in the 

 roots, and was the cause of the disease. Rorer 

 has also carried out extensive investigations, 

 and the results of his work agrees fairly well 

 with that of Stockdale and may be summarized 

 as follows in comparison with Fetch's descrip- 

 tion from Ceylon : 



(1) Hyphse were seen in the old diseased 

 roots, and in the soil about the roots. 



(2) No fungous mycelium was seen in the 

 discoloured tissues from any of the stems. 



(3) The dark-coloured mycelium, charac- 

 teristic of diplodia, and the pycindia, were 

 found in the old leaf bases. 



(4) No mycelium could be seen in root or 

 leaf tissues showing, the first evidence of dis- 

 coloration. 1 Frequently it is noticed from 

 investigations in the West Indies that the 

 leaves do not hang down around the trunk, but 

 the petioles break across, leaving the sheathing 



1 Rorer goes very fully into the matter in his Report 

 in Circular No. 4 of the Trinidad Board of Agriculture. 



