October 17, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



375 



formation was to be liad. Tlie weather fore- 

 casters, nevertheless, were able to pick favor- 

 able times for the trips both coming and going. 

 The encounters with thunderstorms on the 

 American coast, and the danger of ignition of 

 the hydrogen by lightning have caused a call 

 for thunderstorm statistics over the oceans. 

 Fortunately, thunderstorms are much less nu- 

 merous on coasts than inland. The danger 

 to trans-oceanic dirigibles, however, is present 

 the year round, and both night and day, for 

 land thunderstorms, which may drift a short 

 distance out to sea occur mostly by day in 

 summer, and ocean thunderstorms occur 

 mostly at night and in winter. Mr. W. R. 

 Gregg, the Weather Bureau representative at 

 Mineola during the stay of the 1134, has pre- 

 pared an account of the meteorological aspects 

 of the voyage of the E34.i^ 

 I quote from his synopsis : 



The British dirigible E34 flew from the British 

 Isles to the United States in 108 hours and made 

 the return trip in 75 hours, a good illustration of 

 the influence of the prevailing westerlies in trans- 

 Atlantic flight. During the first day of the west- 

 ward trip northeasterly and easterly winds fur- 

 nished some assistance, but thereafter cross winds 

 or head winds were encountered most of the time. 

 On the return trip southwesterly and westerly 

 winds added considerably to the air speed of the 

 ship. Inasmuch as it was necessary to moor the 

 ship in the open at Roosevelt Pield [it was neces- 

 sary to guard against] . . . the sea breeze, 

 thunder-storms, and alternate heating and cooling 

 of the gas through the interruption of insolation 

 by passing clouds. 



The British have now taken steps to in- 

 augurate a radio collecting and issuing system 

 for weather reports and forecasts for marine 

 and aeronautical interests in all parts of the 

 world.^'' 



Charles F. Brooks 



Washington, D. C. 



Weather Review, August, 1919; 

 daily North Atlantic weather maps by F. A. 

 Young in July issue. 



1* See Symon's Meteorological Mag., May, 1919, 

 pp. 37-38 ; noted in Geog. Sev., June, 1919, p. 421, 

 and reprinted in Mo, Weather Bev., June, 1919, 

 p. 417. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



NEW FRUIT FUNGI FOUND ON THE CHICAGO 

 MARKET 



The present paper gives a description of 

 the diseases as they were seen on the fruit 

 rather than a study of the fungus itself. 



The new fruit diseases found on the Chi- 

 cago market are as follows : a new Boiryiis on 

 apple, Polyscytalum on grapefruit and Fiisa- 

 rium on grapefruit. 



Botrytis sp. was first isolated from a north- 

 western Spitzenburg, and later found on north- 

 western Arkansas Black and Winesap. Five 

 Spitzenburg apples affected with Botrytis were 

 taken from the same box. 



The affected Spitzenburgs were entirely 

 rotted. The apples were very soft but the rot 

 was firmer than that produced by Penicillium. 

 The pigments of the skin had stained the 

 underlying tissues to a depth of a quarter of 

 an inch. The apples were covered with a very 

 fine white growth of decumbent mycelium. 



In 1918 Botrytis sp. was studied at the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois. The species of Botrytis 

 was isolated from an apple covered with a 

 thick, heavy growth of grayish mycelium. 

 The fungus tufts arose a half an inch from 

 the surface of the apple. Inoculations of 

 conidiospores upon disease free fruit produced 

 similar growths. The conidiospores averaged 

 6|U. in diameter. The conidiospores of the 

 Botrytis in the present paper averaged 4ju, in 

 diameter. As far as the writer has been able 

 to learn, no Botrytis of this dscription has 

 ever been recorded. 



The perfect and the imperfect stage of 

 Botrytis sp. develops in the same culture tube. 

 The asci are arranged in a layer which con- 

 stitutes a convex hymenium. The hymenium 

 is formed on a very loose structure of niyce- 

 lium. Paraphyses are present. There were 

 no aseospores produced during the four 

 months the fungus was under observation. 

 The asci averaged 51ju. x 11.5,0,. Sclerotia are 

 seen in culture with the naked eye at the end 

 of two weeks. 



Five series of inoculation tests were made 

 using the Spitzenburg variety of apple. Ten 

 apples were used each time. Care was taken 



