128 TOMATO. 



grounds of my applicant, for the obvious reason that it might be 

 injurious to him in a business point of view, but I may mention him 

 as a grower on such an exceedingly large scale, that the presence of 

 such an infestation is a very serious matter. 



The first communication was sent me on the 12th of December, 

 and was as follows : — "I am a nurseryman, and grow a great quantity 

 of Cucumbers and Tomatoes under glass. My houses are, and have 

 been for the past three years, infested with Eelworms, which makes it 

 difficult to get more than three parts of a crop." The writer added 

 details of the treatment, as change of soil, &c., which had been carried 

 out, but which had failed in clearing out the pest, and desired further 

 information. 



On my request for specimens for examination, my correspondent 

 forwarded me, on the 19th of December, a most ample supply, being 

 the lower part of the stem of six good sized Tomato plants with the 

 roots attached. These roots were absolutely loaded with galls, as 

 shown in the figure photographed from a few of them separated from 

 the stem, and tied together for convenience of representation. Infor- 

 mation was sent accompanying that the infesting Eelworms had been 

 identified by Mr. Marshall Ward, Prof, of Botany at the Eoyal Indian 

 Engineering College, as being Heterodera radicicola, and from my own 

 microscopic examination also of the contents of the galls, I found this 

 to be the case. In the specimens sent I found the peculiar pear- or 

 gourd-shaped females, as well as the ordinary Eelworm-shaped or 

 thread-like males, and young wormlets, and also vast numbers of eggs. 



As, however, in a newly observed infestation of this importance, it 

 was desirable to have every possible information, I forwarded a packet 

 of the infested galls to Dr. J. Ritzema Bos, of the State Agricultural 

 College, Wageningen, as being most especially versed in the charac- 

 teristics and history of the Nematodes, and requested his opinion. 

 Without delay Dr. Ritzema Bos favoured me with the information that 

 he found m the galls a very great number of the pear-shaped females, 

 of which he added sketches (corresponding in form with those at 

 p. 127), also TylencJms-\\\e males, and larvae, and also noted, " There 

 is no doubt at all that they belong to the species Heterodera radicicola'' ; 

 and in some further information relative to the nature of this infes- 

 tation, which he was good enough to send me a few days later, he 

 mentioned that he found " an immense number of females, males, 

 larvae, and eggs," and again noted that indeed it was doubtless the 

 Heterodera radicicola. 



The folloivinc/ notes of some of the main characteristics in appearance of 

 the Boot-knot Eelworms are taken from the pamphlet on this subject, pre- 

 pared from personal investigation by Prof. Geo. F. Atkinson, Prof, of 



