1890.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 59 



infusoria, I have no hesitation in saying there were none in the speci- 

 mens examined bv me immetHately after I received them. I thereon 

 put several Calcutta termites into the box with the Behar insects, which 

 immediately sallied out of cover, and fell remorselessly on the poor, 

 defenceless Bengalis ! My object was, by associating the two breeds, 

 to demoralize the high-spirited termites of Behar, and to infect them 

 with the Bengal parasite ; but, sad to relate, the entire brood succumbed, 

 and my observations on the valiant Beharis were abruptly terminated. 



On two or three occasions I have found bright green matter, evidently 

 chlorophyll, in the intestinal canals of white ants from my garden. Is 

 Firminger correct in maintaining that tertnes never attacks green and 

 living plants? My friend Mr. Francis says he is convinced from his 

 observations in the microscopic world that Firminger is wrong! 



A rough and ready way of examining the termites for parasites is to 

 cut oft' the abdomen of the insect, place it in a drop of distilled water, 

 and tear it to pieces with mounted needles. More careful work is, of 

 course, required if you wish to localize the parasites in the intestinal 

 tract. Cochrane's brilliant crimson ink is an excellent stain for the or- 

 ganism. Osmic acid was used by me to kill them for the purpose of 

 drawing them, and roseine to stain them. As to instruments, the work 

 described in this note has been mainly done with Beck's Economic ^" 

 and \;" objectives on a " Star" stand. The highest power used by me 

 was Seibert's -^-^" water immersion, and this was only resorted to for 

 the mouth parts of the parasite, as well as for the spirilla, and to ascer- 

 tain the structure of the alga and of the other minute organisms. For 

 work on the parasite itself, the ^" or J" and the J" are sufticient. 



Note on the Wheat Rust.* 



By H. L. BOLLEY, 



LA FAYETTE, IND. 



(i) What plant takes the place of the barberry in acting as hosts to 

 the a3cidium of Pucclnia graminis? I, and I doubt not, many others 

 would gladly answer directly. But that, plant, with the necessary 

 amount of fact to prove it, the wheat-growers' enemy, belongs to the 

 category of the unknown. Several very common iecidial forms of un- 

 known afiinity, such as one to be found upon the evening primrose, 

 have, because of their general distribution, similarity to ^-Ecidiiuri 

 gramlnis^ and proper appearance in point of time, become objects of 

 suspicion to some. 



However, mere opinion in this matter counts for naught. Proof 

 fixed through actual culture tests is the only foundation for placing the 

 guilt. Up to date, species of the barberry only are known bearers of 

 that JEcidium. 



(2) In the abseftce of the barberry and failing- a. substitute, there 

 are yet two possible sources through which there may be a spring in- 

 fection, by direct infection through the sporidia (promycelial spores of 

 the teleutospores) or through the dissemination of uredospores early ab- 

 stricted from fungal hyphag, which have passed the winter unharmed. 



* Answers to queri^ induced by the article in the August number, 1889. 



