164 Mdanopsicliiitm — Cintraciia. 



by radiating forking threads. Then Cooke supplemented this description 

 later by giving the size of the spores as 12-15 yi diam. and their surface is 

 described as delicately rugulose. There is no trace of lilac in the spores of 

 the Queensland specimen, which is, however, at least a quarter of a century 

 old, nor of the bifurcating filaments. 



The original determination of this species as Ustilago emodensis Berk. 

 was made by Mr. Broome, as the following note from Mr. Bailey will show : — 

 " My only specimen of Ustilago emodensis was given to me by the late Dr. 

 Joseph Bancroft, who found it on Polygonum sp. at Kelvin Grove, Three- 

 mile Scrub near Brisbane, April, 1879. It was determined by the late Mr. 

 Broome." 



Massee^ has made Ustilago treuhii Solms. a synonym of U. emodensis 

 Berk., but it has certainly no relation to the Queensland specimen. Dr. 

 Treub kindly sent me specimens from Java on Polygonum chinense, and they 

 show the clustered outgrowths, up to 1 inch long, forming a swollen head like 

 a Cantharellus. The swollen head splits across and allows the escape of the 

 violet-tinted spores, which are globose to ellipsoid, very delicately echinulate 

 and 7-8 /w diam. or 7-8 x 5-6 /l/. Dieted describes them as smooth and only 

 4 i-i diam. The arrangement of the spores and their size and colour are 

 altogether different to those of Melanopsichium. 



On forwarding photographs of Melanopsichium austro-americanum and 

 Ustilago treuhii to the director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, he courteously 

 replied — "that an examination of the original specimen of Ustilago emodensis 

 Berk, had been made. The plant proves to be very different from Bailey's 

 Queensland plant, having spores irregularly globose, violet, thick-walled, 

 almost smooth, and measuring 5-7 ^1 diam. Ustilago treuhii Solms. (Exsicc. 

 No. 56) has also been examined and it is, as stated by Mr. Massee, practically 

 identical with Berkeley's species." 



Germination. — This has been described and figured by Norton-. He says — 

 " It begins in water after a day or two and proceeds slowly. The promycelia 

 are small and slender, frequently branched, and irregular in shape. Conidia 

 few." 



(Plate XXXIII.) 



CINTRACIIA Cornu. 



Mycelium usually persistent in the diseased parts, with a compact 

 gelatinous base from which spore-bearing filaments arise, in which the 

 spores are successively differentiated from the inside outwards. 



Sori on various parts of the host, forming a compact usually firmly 

 agglutinated spore-mass, generally surrounding a central columella of plant 

 tissue. 



Spores single, as in Ustilago, and germination the same, or only slightly 

 modified. 



This genus was named by Cornu after a distinguished French botanist 

 called Cintract. It is not always recognised as distinct from Ustilago, but 

 the distinction lies in the spores remaining firmly agglutinated and compact 

 for a considerable time, while the spores themselves are developed successively 

 <rom a fertile stroma. Eventually they are generally freed by the absorp- 

 xion of water, as the host -plants usually occur in damp situations and the 

 moisture at the -same- time insures germination. The hyphae arising from 



