418 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 480. 



attention within the last two years were 

 those of Pelargonium, soy bean, cow pea 

 and ginseng. The latter is rather a yellow- 

 ing and fraying of the leaf margins than a 

 true spot. From the extremely numerous 

 and quite characteristic spots on the soy 

 bean leaves a yellow bacterium was isolated. 

 This disease has been observed only in the 

 vicinity of Washington. 



A Fungus Infesting Stored Sugar: Dr. 

 C. 0. TowNSBND, Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



The attention of the writer was called 

 last summer to the abnormal condition of a 

 quantity of granulated sugar stored in 

 barrels. The sugar had become damp and 

 unsalable, and could be restored perma- 

 nently to its normal condition only by re- 

 melting and reworking. It was at first 

 thought that this peculiar condition of the 

 sugar was due to the presence of hygro- 

 scopic salts, but a careful examination 

 showed that the sugar was practically free 

 from salts of any kind. Upon placing a 

 small quantity of the abnormal material 

 under the microscope, numerous fungous 

 threads and many round bodies resembling 

 fungous spores were observed. When the 

 material was plated out, three distinct 

 fungi were found and pure cultures of each 

 were made. As soon as these produced 

 spores, quantities of normal sugar were in- 

 oculated and placed in damp chambers. In 

 from two to three weeks the cultures made 

 from one kind of spores— a Penicillium — 

 showed the same ^ characteristics that had 

 been observed in the stored sugar, the cul- 

 tures from the other fungi remaining un- 

 changed for an indefinite period. It was 

 found that the Penicillium spores would 

 germinate and that the fungus would grow 

 readily on sugar solutions of all strengths 

 up to and including a fifty per cent, solu- 

 tion, and even on a saturated solution the 

 spores germinated and produced new spores 



in from six to eight days. The fungus 

 grows readily on pure dextrose solutions, 

 on solutions of C. P. maltose, and on all 

 kinds of cooked vegetables, but it does not 

 grow readily upon raw vegetables. The in- 

 fested sugar becomes inverted, as shown by 

 Fehling's test and by the fact that the 

 polarization is reduced in all cases. Some- 

 times the reduction is as much as 99.8 to 

 92. The trouble may be prevented by stor- 

 ing the sugar in dry, well-seasoned barrels 

 and keeping in a dry place. 



Observations on the Structure of Dischidia, 

 a Climbing Epiphyte from the Philip- 

 pines: Dr. John W. Harshbergek, Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania. 

 Dischidia sp. is a twining epiphyte native 

 to the open areas in the province of Zam- 

 bales, P. I. The plant, which early severs 

 its connection with the soil, lives attached 

 by horizontally placed adventitious roots to 

 the surface of dead bamboo canes. It has 

 two forms of leaves. The foliage leaves are 

 thick and fleshy. The others are pitcher- 

 shaped and about an inch and a half long. 

 A second kind of adventitious root develops 

 and grows into the pitchers, where it 

 branches and forms an interlacing mass 

 closely applied to the lower, inner surface 

 of the saccate leaves. Inside the outer 

 pitcher, a smaller one is developed, which 

 represents the incurved apex of the highly 

 modified leaf. A small black ant frequents 

 the outer pitchers and carries into them de- 

 caying wood and leaf mold, from which the 

 roots in the pitcher derive a constant sup- 

 ply of plant food. The details of the struc- 

 ture have been elaborated by Treub, Groom, 

 Scott and Sargant for Dischidia rafflesiana, 

 but the plant from the Philippines differs 

 from this species in the following points : 

 (1) The presence of long adventitious roots, 

 which penetrate the pockets of decaying 

 matter, collecting where a circle of bamboo 

 branches arise; (2) the development of a 



