910 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 939 



the impression that they are presenting cer- 

 tain facts for the first time. In his article 

 Shear comes to the conclusion, after a trip to 

 Europe, during which he collected specimens 

 of Endothia gyrosa (Endothia radicalis of 

 European authors, as he calls it) on chestnut, 

 that this " is identical, morphologically, with 

 Diaporihe parasitica Murrill, as found in 

 America." This same conclusion, as we have 

 shown, was previously made by von Hohnel, 

 Farlow and Saccardo, but nevertheless is not 

 quite correct, since our studies show that the 

 aseospores of Endothia gyrosa from both 

 Europe and America and on both oak and 

 chestnut, are as a rule narrowly oval, while 

 those of the true chestnut blight are broadly 

 oval. However, since both forms have inter- 

 grading spores, the difference is very easily 

 overlooked. Shear also apparently did not 

 know that the real Endothia gyrosa of Europe 

 also occurs as a native species in America, 

 since he further states: 



As a result of our studies to date, we are of 

 the opinion that Diaporthe parasitica Murrill is 

 the same as Endothia radicalis of European au- 

 thors, but not of Schweinitz, and that it was prob- 

 ably introduced into this country from Europe 

 and has gradually spread from the original point 

 of introduction, its spread being facilitated chiefly 

 by borers or other animal agencies which produce 

 wounds favorable for infection by the fungus. 



The Andersons in their paper come to the 

 conclusion that there are three species of 

 Endothia in the United States, as follows : 



(1) E. radicalis (Schw.) Fr., (2) the true blight 

 fungus — why not call it Endothia parasitica? — and 

 (3) the Conuellsville fungus, for which we pro- 

 pose the name E. virginiana, and for which we 

 expect to write a description as soon as more of 

 the European specimens have been examined. 



It is too bad that they did not first care- 

 fully examine these European specimens, since 

 their new species is the same thing as En- 

 dothia gyrosa. However, like the writer, they 

 distinguished the difference between the aseo- 

 spores of their so-called new species and those 

 of the true chestnut blight. Also their cul- 

 ture and inoculation work agree in the main 

 with the unpublished results of the writer. 



With their interpretation of Schweinitz's 

 original description of Splusria gyrosa as be- 

 longing to an entirely difierent fungus (a 

 species of Nectria) we can not agree, as we 

 believe Schweinitz originally had our fungus 

 when he wrote his description in " Syn. Fung. 

 Car.," No. 24. 



The writer has received specimens from 

 Farlow of his linear-spored Endothia, from 

 Shear of this same fungus, which he calls 

 "Endothia radicalis (Schw.)," and also of his 

 recent collections of " Endothia radicalis of 

 European authors " on chestnut from Italy, 

 and from Detwiler of the Connellsville fungus 

 (E. virginiana Anders.). We have had a 

 chance to compare all of these under the 

 microscope and most of them in cultures with 

 the specimens we have collected and with the 

 European specimens previously mentioned as 

 received from Saccardo. We have also exam- 

 ined the Ellis and other specimens under En- 

 dothia gyrosa in the herbarium of the New 

 York Botanical Garden and the Schweinitz 

 specimens of Sphwria gyrosa and S. radicalis 

 in the Philadelphia Academy of Science. We 

 have made cultural experiments with Dia- 

 porthe parasitica extending over four years, 

 and with Endothia gyrosa for nearly a year. 

 We have made numerous inoculation tests 

 with these two forms during the past summer. 

 We also have cultures of the linear-spored 

 Endothia. From this work and a careful 

 review of all the literature bearing even re- 

 motely on the subject, we are positive that 

 there are three forms of Endothia in America, 

 all of which we believe to be native, and that 

 at least one of them also occurs in Europe. 

 We shall briefly discuss these as (1) the linear, 

 (2) the narrowly-oval and (3) the broadly- 

 oval spored forms of Endothia, as follows : 



1. The Linear-spored Endothia, E. radicalis 

 (Schw.) Farl. — The specimen from Florida 

 issued by Ellis in " IST. A. Fungi " No. 1956 as 

 Endothia gyrosa (Schw.) is apparently this 

 species, though the specimen in our set shows 

 only a few aseospores and no asei. Likewise, 

 the specimens issued by Ravenel as Sphceria 

 gyrosa Schw. in his " Fungi Car " No. 49, on 

 Liquidamhar and Quercus, belong here, as 



