117 



The secretary spoke of the death on August 16 of Prof. 

 J. E. Kirkwood. who had l)een Professor of Botany in the 

 University of Montana, Missoula, Montana since 1913. From 

 1910 to \9\3, he was Professor of Botany and Forestry at the 

 same institution. 



By vote of the Club, Mrs. B. O. Dodge was unanimously 

 elected bibliographer in place of Miss Laura A. Kolk, resigned. 

 It was also voted that the next meeting, which would occur on 

 Nov. 6, Election Day, be omitted. 



Dr. Hazen suggested that some sign of recognition be given 

 by the Club to visiting botanists at the time of the A. A. A. S. 

 meetings this coming December — by a smoker, dinner, or in 

 some other way. On the motion of Dr. Harper, it was voted 

 that the matter be referred to a committee composed of the 

 officers of the Club. 



The scientific part of the program consisted of a paper by 

 Miss Laura A. Kolk of Hunter College, entitled : "The Relation 

 between Host and Pathogen in the Smuts." A summary of 

 this lecture, prepared by Miss Kolk, follows: 



The distribution of mycelium of Ustilago avenae was studied 

 in oat seedlings inoculated by means of the dry spore dusting 

 method. In seedlings five days old and older, the mycelium 

 was found distributed throughout the tissues of the coleoptile 

 and mesocotyl, and no clew could be gained as to its place of 

 initial penetration into the seedling. In seedlings from one to 

 four days old, mycelium was found in the coleop.tile from its 

 tip to the coleoptile node, in the space between the first leaf 

 and the coleoptile, in the first leaf, in the tissues of the node, 

 and in the mesocot\l up near the coleoptile node. No mycelium 

 was found in the scutellum, the root node, or the lower portion 

 of the mesocotyl. 



In three day old seedlings, initial penetration into the 

 epidermis of the coleoptile was observed with the characteristic 

 "holes" in the cuticle at the point of penetration noted by 

 Brefeld. In one case a chlamydospore outside the seedling 

 was found still attached to its germ tube which had made its 

 way into and across the epidermal cell. 



From a cytological study of the mycelium in the tissue of 

 mesocotyl and coleoptile, many hyphae of unusual appearance 

 were found — empty portions of filaments, long drawn-out 

 threads, and swollen hyphae very similar to the hyphae des- 



