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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 727 



Vice-president — Mr. Thos. H. Kearney. 

 Recording Secretary — Dr. Haven Metcalf. 

 Corresponding Secretary — Mr. Wm. E. Saflford. 

 Treasurer — Mr. J. H. Painter. 

 Dr. J. N. Rose, of the U. S. National Museum, 

 was elected to represent the society as vice-presi- 

 dent of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 

 Wm. E. Satfobd, 

 Corresponding Secretary 



THE BOTANICAL SOCIETT OF WASHINGTON 



The forty-ninth regular meeting of the society 

 was held on the evening of April 25, 1908, Vice- 

 president C. V. Piper presiding. Papers were read 

 as follows: 

 Flies as Distributors of Spores: N. A. Cobb. 



Dr. Cobb ulled attention to the ease with 

 which spores and other small bodies may be car- 

 ried about OH the feet of fUes, especially of the 

 Muscidse and Sarcophagidae, which are provided 

 with viscous hairs or papillae. But a more prob- 

 able source of the transmission of spores and 

 disease germs is the depositing of excreta on food 

 and on living organisms. On examination, fly- 

 specks were found to contain spores of many kinds 

 of fungi, sometimes fifty or sixty widely different 

 kinds, which had been taken into the alimentary 

 canal with the flies' food and had not been injured 

 by the processes of digestion. In studying a cer- 

 tain fungus disease of the sugar- cane Dr. Cobb 

 found in the excreta of flies visiting the plant 

 spores of practically all the fungus diseases which 

 attack the cane. They undoubtedly are the chief 

 if not the sole agents in transmitting the disease 

 investigated. 

 Notes on Fomes igniariu^: Peelet Spaxjlding. 



This fungus occurs very commonly in the decid- 

 uous forests of America. It is limited to decidu- 

 ous trees. The aspen, butternut and beech are 

 very susceptible to its attacks; the sugar maple 

 and the balm-of-gilead are relatively resistant. 

 The destruction caused by it is tremendous in 

 many parts of the world. It may practically 

 destroy all the mature timber of a certain species 

 in a given locality; instances have been found 

 where 90 to 95 per cent, of mature beech trees 

 were afl'ected. The investigations have shown that 

 Fomes igniarius is strictly a wound parasite; it 

 may live saprophytically on the dead tree or stub 

 for several years; the death of the tree attacked 

 is certain. The age of the host tree, presence of 

 wounds and rapidity of healing of wounds are 

 factors controlling the entrance of the fungus into 

 the trunks. 



The Problem of the Cuban Coconut Planter: 



John R. Johnston. 



A serious disease has recently invaded the coco- 

 nut groves of Cuba. It is there known as the 

 bud-rot. In some localities it has destroyed all 

 of the trees, in others it is just appearing. The 

 disease is not confined to Cuba, but is widely 

 spread in tropical America. Thus far, Porto Rico 

 has escaped it. The disease proves to be bacterial. 

 It is confined to the crown, or terminal bud, of the 

 tree, in which it causes a soft, vile-smelling rot. 

 Owing to the great height of the coconut trees and 

 the difiioulty experienced in getting at the ter- 

 minal bud, Eurrouaided as it is by the sheathing 

 cases of the petioles of older leaves, it is almost 

 impossible to treat the disease locally. It is not 

 yet known how the disease is transmitted from 

 one tree to another, but it is suspected that this 

 may be through the agency of insects. Experi- 

 ments are being carried on by the Department of 

 Agriculture, the results of which will probably 

 be published at a not very distant date. 



Some Cases of Delayed Germination in Seeds: 



G. F. Klugh. 



In attempting to cultivate drug plants, the life- 

 history of which in most cases is little known, it 

 was found that, almost as a rule, germination 

 was delayed for at least a year. In planting 

 Aconitum navellus, five spring plantings gave two 

 total failures, two cases of germination, and one 

 case of germination the same and the following 

 spring. Mr. Klugh gave the results obtained in 

 the cases of Aragallus lambertii, Aristolochia ser- 

 pentaria, Atropa belladona, Datura stramonium, 

 Hyoscyamus niger, Solanum nigrum, Colchicum 

 autumnale, Echinacea angustifolia, Glycyrrhiza 

 glabra (in which germination was increased after 

 the seeds had been shaken with crushed glass), 

 Hedeoma pulegioides, Humulus lupulus, Hydrastis 

 canadensis, Lobelia inflata and Panax quinque- 

 folium, the last of which required eighteen months 

 or two years to germinate. The presence or 

 absence of moisture seems to play the most im- 

 portant role in germination. Sometimes the 

 vitality is destroyed by drying. In the case of 

 Solanaceae the lack of oxygen was fatal. Plants of 

 this family failed to germinate when buried in 

 moist soil even less than an inch in depth. The 

 same seeds germinated when brought to the 

 surface. 



Haven Metcalf, 



Secretary 



