150 U St Hugo. 



Sori iu spikelets, attacking the glumes as well as the ovaries, forming 

 dusty dark olivaceous masses, entirely destroying the floral parts 

 as a rule, and leaving only the axis of inflorescence ; occasionally 

 on shot-blade forming elongated streaks, and also on rachis. 



Spores pale olivaceous, more lightly coloured on one side, 

 globose, subgiobose, or shortly ellipsoid, minutely but distinctly 

 echinulate, 5-6 "5 j-i diam., or ()-8 x 4-5 '5 j-i. 

 On Triticum vulgare Vill. — Wheat. 

 Common in all the States. 



This is usually called Loose or Flying smut, from the way in which the 

 spores are bloAvn about, or " Snuffy Ears," from the dark dusty powder in place 

 of the ear. The spores are blown about by the wind at flowering time, and by 

 harvest time only the bare stalks of the affected ears are left, with remnants 

 possibly of the chaffy scales. 



It has been already noted that, while the spores are usually produced in 

 the spikelets, they are occasionally found on the sheathing blade or shot 

 blade, as well as on the stem (Plate Vic). This only occurred on one 

 variety. Red Egyptian, obtained from Vilmorin, of Paris, in 1908, and the 

 elongated streaks were very prominent on both surfaces of the leaf. It is 

 worthy of record in this connexion that Hennings^ also found it on the 

 leaves and leaf sheaths of a wheat obtained from Upper Egypt, and although 

 the spores Avere identical, he regarded it as a new form, and named it folicola. 

 It sometimes happens that the spores remain closely agglutinated 

 together, harden, and do not blow away, so that the axis of the inflorescence 

 is invested by the black remains of the affected ovaries. A cross-section of 

 such an ovary shows that the plant tissue has only been partially replaced by 

 spores, and that, while the immature and colourless spores adjoin the 

 vascular bundles, the dark dense mature masses are on the outside, the 

 development of the spores being from the inside outwards. 



Germination. — Both in water and in a nutritive solution, the spore puts 

 forth a germinal tube which branches freely, and the tube with its branches 

 curve in a characteristic sickle-shaped manner. No conidia are formed, but 

 the whole grows into a much-branched mycelium. This species is adapted 

 for floral infection, hence the mode of germination of the spore. 



(Plates III., YI., XXVIII.) 



Bromus. 

 5. Ustilago bromivora (Tul.) F. v. W. 



Fischer von Waldheim, Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. XL., p. 252 (1867). 



Cooke, Handb. Austr. Fung., p. 325 (1892). 



Brefeld, Unters. Gesammt. Myk. V., p. 123 (1883). 



Sacc. Syll. VII., p. 461 (1888). 



Cintraclia fatagonica, Cooke & Mass. Grev. XVIII., p. 34 (1889). 



Sori in spikelets, usually confined within the glumes, but sometimes 

 attacking them at their base, at first bullate, then powdery, and the 

 black spore powder frequently dusted over the entire inflorescence. 



Spores dark-brown to olivaceous, globose to ellipsoid or ovoid, 

 abundantly covered with minute tubercles, 7-10 /< diam., or " 

 9-11 X 7-9 p, occasionally 12 x 9 to 13 x 10 /'. 

 On Bromus mollis L. 



Victoria — Common. 



South Australia — Kangaroo Island, Jan., 1904 (Summers). Plains 

 of Adelaide, Dec, 1909 (Quinn). 



