242 FUNGOID PESTS OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



perfectly grown each joint is somewhat swollen, and sometimes perfectly 

 developed conidia had but three septa. Conidia about 50/z long. 



We have not discovered any record of this species elsewhere than in 

 Britain. 



Gard. Chron. 1860, p. 480, with fig. ; Sacc. Syll. iv. 3346 ; Cooke, 

 Hdbk. No. 1869. 



GBASS BLACK MOULD. 

 Scolecotrichum sticticum (B. & Br.), PI. XXIII. fig. 26 



This mould sometimes makes its appearance upon still living leaves, but 

 more often is developed on the fading or dead leaves of various grasses. 



The tufts are small and black, point-like, and dotted over the leaves. 

 The threads grow in little bundles, and are nodulose or irregular, bearing 

 at the apex oblong-clavate conidia (40/i long), which are divided by one 

 septum, and slightly coloured. 



It has never yet been troublesome as a pest, being confined to a few 

 plants. If it ever gets beyond this, spraying can scarcely be applicable 

 over an entire field. 



Sacc. Syll iv. 1660 ; Cooke, Hdbk. No. 1719. 



Another species (Scolecotrichum graminis) occurs on the fading leaves 

 of Alopecurus and Brachypodium in France, Germany, and Italy. 



REED MACE FUNGUS. 

 EpicUoe typhina (Pers.), PI. XXIII. fig. 27. 



This peculiar-looking parasite is not uncommon on the culms of 

 various grasses, which it surrounds for the space of two or three inches 

 like a crust of wax, at first whitish and then yellow, dotted with darker 

 points, which indicate the buried receptacles. 



In the first stage, whilst still white, the surface bears ovoid conidia 

 (4-5 x 3/u), which condition has been named Sphacelia typhina. The 

 stroma becomes yellowish or reddish, sprinkled with dots. These dots are 

 the mouths of the imbedded receptacles, which, like those of the final 

 stage of ergot, contain numerous long cylindrical tubes, or asci, which 

 each encloses eight long thread-like sporidia closely packed together side by 

 side. Each sporidium (130-150 x l-l|/j) either contains a row of nuclei, 

 or is faintly divided by numerous delicate septa. 



Known in Britain, France, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Italy, 

 Siberia, and Ndjcth America. 



Difficult to eradicate because so abundant on wild grasses. 



Sacc. Syll. ii. 5057 ; Mass. PI. Dis. pp. 125, 372, fig. 28 ; Cooke, Hdbk. 

 No. 2326, fig. 870. 



REED SMUT. 

 Ustilago grandis (Fr.), PI. XXIII. fig. 28. 



Reeds are a sufficiently commercial product in some counties for us 

 to regard " reed beds " as field crops, in a liberal sense. The reed smut 



