AUGUST 29, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



297 



The uniformity and constancy of both the 

 physiological and morphological characters of 

 this fungus are quite remarkable and striking. 



The Chinese organism has thus been shown 

 to be practically identical with the American 

 in all its morphological and physiological 

 characters and in the production of the typical 

 chestnut-blight and the pycnidial fructifica- 

 tions of the fungus. There is apparently but 

 one other requirement that could be made 

 according to the strictest pathological canons 

 to perfect the proof in this case, and that is 

 the production of typical ascospores of E. 

 parasitica on the lesions produced by the in- 

 oculations. These could scarcely be expected 

 to appear for some weeks yet. The evidence, 

 however, appears to us sufficiently complete to 

 allow no escape from the conclusion that 

 Endothia parasitica occurs in China and in 

 such a locality and under such conditions as 

 would indicate that it is indigenous there. 



Just as this note was finished, Mr. Fairchild 

 received a package of photographs of blighted 

 chestnut trees from Mr. Meyer, taken in the 

 same locality from which the specimens were 

 obtained. These will be published later. 

 Suffice it to add here that the illustrations 

 show clearly by the evident age of the trees 

 and of the infections that this Chinese 

 chestnut is much more resistant to the disease 

 than the American and that there is much 

 hope for the successful selection and breeding 

 of resistant plants. 



C. L. Shear 

 Neil E. Stevens 



Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 August 16, 1913 



THE mSCOVEEY OF THE CHESTNUT BAEK 

 DISEASE IN CHINA 



Mr. Frank N. Meyer, agricultural explorer 

 of the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Intro- 

 duction of the Department of Agriculture, 

 during his first exploring trip in northern 

 China, 1905-1908, visited the Pang shan region 

 east of Peking. He reported upon the exist- 

 ence of considerable quantities of wild chest- 

 nuts there, where they " grow . wild on the 



slopes of rocky mountains. ... It is mostly 

 found in groves, growing among rocks and 

 bowlders, and even in its wild state it varies 

 considerably in the size and flavor of its nuts - 

 and the spininess of the burrs. The Chinese 

 name for the wild form is San li tze,'" other- 

 wise spelled Shan-li-tze. At the time of Mr. 

 Meyer's exploration in the Pang shan region, 

 there was comparatively little interest in this 

 country in the chestnut bark disease, and not 

 being a plant pathologist, he did not look for 

 the disease among the chestnut trees from 

 which he gathered chestnuts for introduction 

 into this country. 



When it was announced that Mr. Meyer 

 would make a second expedition to north 

 China, the question was raised by Drs. Metcalf 

 and Shear, of the Office of Forest Pathology, as 

 to whether or not Meyer might be requested 

 to search for the disease among these Chinese 

 chestnuts. On February 26, 1913, therefore, 

 at Dr. Shear's request, Mr. Meyer %vas asked 

 to make a search for the disease, and in order 

 to inform him specifically as to what to look 

 for, specimens of the diseased bark were sent 

 him. 



On June 13, 1913, the American legation 

 cabled the state department as follows : " Meyer 

 requests the legation to report that he has dis- 

 covered chestnut bark fungus. Seems identical 

 with American form." 



On June 28 a letter was received from Mr. 

 Meyer, written June 4 from a Chinese inn in 

 an old dilapidated town to the northeast of 

 Peking, between Tsun hua tcho and Yehol. 

 In it Mr. Meyer announces the sending of a 

 small fragment of diseased chestnut bark." 



'Meyer, Frank N., "Agricultural Explorations 

 in the Fruit and Nut Orchards of China, ' ' Bulle- 

 tin No. 204, Bureau of Plant Industry, p. 52, 

 March 25, 1911. 



^ San tun ying, Chili Prov., China, 

 Mr. David Fairchild, June 4, 1913, 



Agricultural Explorer in Charge, 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C, U. S. A. 

 Dear Mr. Fairchild: Here I am sitting in a 

 Chinese inn in an old dilapidated town to the 

 northeast of Peking, between Tsun hua tcho and 



