cxciv Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [X.S., XIII, 



1899 but was probably in existence for several years prior to that date. 

 Within the past sixteen years about three-fourths of the sandal area in 

 Coorg has become infected. In Mysore it has appeared in most of the 

 sandal areas in Mysore District and in several areas of Hassan and 

 Bangalore Districts. In Madras Presidency it has also appeared in a 

 large number of sandal areas in Salem, Coimbatore and Trichinopoly 

 Districts. 



It is difficult to estimate the losses due to the disease but there are 

 indications that sandal to the value of 5 lakhs of rupees are being des- 

 troyed annually. If as appears likely the disease continues to spread to 

 areas which have hitherto remained free, sandal as an economic product 

 will practically- cease to exist unless we can discover some efficient means 

 of combating the disease. 



The chief outward symptoms are (a) a reduction in size of the leaves, 

 (b) shortening of the internodes, (c) disturbance in the growth periodicity 

 leading to growth throughout the year, and (d) death of haustoria and 

 end roots. Inner structural changes are few and unimportant but there 

 is one typical internal symptom, viz. the deposition of large quantities 

 of starch in parenchyma of twigs and leaves. 



The paper considers the question of starch deposition and shows that 

 there is a disturbance in the translocation indicated by a reduction of 

 diastatic activity in diseased leaves. Whether there is any alteration in 

 the rate of carbohydrate formation in the diseased leaves as compared 

 with healthy ones is under investigation. The fact not heretofore 

 sufficiently emphasized, that leaves showing outward evidence of spike 

 are invariably pale in colour, would point to a decreased carbohydrate 

 formation rather than to an increased one. 



The question of the communicability of the disease is discussed and 

 the results of experiments in which twigs from spiked trees were grafted 

 on to healthy trees are given. These show conclusively that the disease 

 is communicable as m a large number of cases the disease was communi- 

 cated m this way. Injection of an aqueous extract from diseased leave^ 

 into healthy trees has. up to the present, given no result. 



A number of other plants have been found attacked by diseases 

 Rowing similar symptoms. In the case of one of these plants, viz. 

 f£W*g oenopha, it has been found possible to communicate the disease 



Shi&t f JUSt aS m the (aSe of sandal s P ike - The question of the pos- 

 it/* SL ?l ^"YT ^ 1 ^ the disease as ** appears in one of the species 

 gatton a healthy P lant of mother susceptible species is under investi- 



ng IuT!ull me ^ od * of infection in the light of our present knowledge 

 too fncnm^f f the P a P er ' but our knowledge of the disease IS still 

 too incomplete to formulate definite conclusion on this point. 



On the Endophytic Xitrogen-fixing Bacteria in Lemm minor 



By 81 O. TlKUNAKVYANAN 



have^hLn^rff n "? xi ?S or ga™ms-Bacillus radicicola and AzotobaHer- 

 occur h irf t aS Lvm S in8ide the tiss ^ of Lemna, and also to 

 ;K^J£? ST^TEL £ * «PP« "«'«*'■ in cultures on Mannite 



fix 



Both of these 



In 



the tissues th*Jr ■ l "^S Qn ana thrive in nitrogen-free media, au 



uch ^ociatioL Ve, ^ a3S ° dation with endophytic Nostoc, similar to 



sides th?s t h* ba!/" • Cycadaceae ^d also in AzoUa and Anthoceros. Be- 



nterna airchamS/^ Tl t0 ° CCUr in certain s P ecial **• bounding on 

 frornuS^^ h l? C ^ W £* Zo °8leaof P bacteri« and are free 



in the EEJJj? S r ° Pla9tS - But th6 ' V have l1ot y« '~ en ••« co ? nl86d 



