442 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JUNE 
resin. Spraying was not found to be profitable where the disease had so 
weakened the plants that they gave less than one third of the normal crop.— 
Ernst A. BESSEY. 
ATTENTION is called to a group of fungus diseases hitherto almost 
unnoticed in this country in a joint bulletin by B. M. Duggar and F. C. Stewart 
entitled “ The sterile fungus Rhizoctonia as a cause of plant diseases in Amer- 
ica.”*7_ The genus Rhizoctonia is a so-called form genus, Z. ¢., it consists of 
fungi whose spore forms are unknown but which agree generally in their 
vegetative characters. The fungus is characterized by a peculiar method of 
branching of the hyphae, by the formation of sclerotia, and by its usually par- 
asitic habit on roots and underground parts of plants. The authors find that 
this fungus is present on many different hosts, including among the most 
important the potato, beet, bean, carnation, lettuce, and radish, Whether 
the same species affects all these plants still remains to be determined by 
cross-inoculations. In most if not all of the plants mentioned, the fungus 
causes a severe root-rot, which often results in the death of the host. That 
the fungus is the cause of the disease was proved in some of the cases by 
repeated inoculations with pure cultures. As the paper is in a measure only 
preliminary the discussion of the special morphology and physiology as well 
as of the taxonomy and relation to European forms is reserved for a later 
paper, in which will also be taken up the results of inoculation experiments. 
— Ernst A. BESSEY. 
PROFESSOR G, J. PEIRCE” has published some interesting studies on 
Sequoia sempervirens, chiefly in connection with the development of suckers, 
a very unusual habit among Gymnosperms. The claim is made that reforest- 
ing is entirely possible if suckers and seedlings are not destroyed by fire. In 
the tendency of the suckers to fasciation the author confirms Frank’s view 
that it is in consequence of an excess of food substances in available form. 
The most prominent feature of the paper, however, is the discussion of the 
albinism of certain suckers. These are by no means uncommon, and they 
differ decidedly in rate of growth, in resistance to cold, in leaf structure, etc., 
from green suckers. The author thinks that the albinism is due to the fact 
that the leaves form and attain nearly or quite full size when there is insuf- 
ficient warmth for the formation of the chromoplasts and. the chlorophyll, 
though enough for growth. One interesting feature of the albinism is that 
when a sucker begins white it always remains so, no matter how favorable 
‘7 DuaGar, B. M. and Stewart, F. C.: The sterile fungus Rhizoctonia as a 
cause of plant diseases in sven Bull. 186, Cornell University Agricultural 
Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. Bull. 186, a York Agricultural Experiment 
Station, Geneva, N., Y., p. 28, figs. 9. psi 19 
*8 Studies on the coast orken edna sempervirens Endl.). Proc. Calif. Acad. 
Sci. III. Bot. 2: 83-106. pi. rg. 
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