ANTHRACNOSE OF CUCURBITS. 3 



HISTORY. 



The first authentic report of anthracnose is that of Passerini 

 (16), who in 1867 found the disease on Lagenaria fruits at Padua, 

 Italy. Eight years later, he (16) reported its extensive occurrence 

 on watermelons and cantaloupes in the Province of Parma, Italy. 



In 1871 and in 1876 Berkeley (3, 4) reported' in the Gardener's 

 Chronicle a Gloeosporium on cucumber fruits in England, the identity 

 of which is doubtful. He (4) noted that Gloeosporia occurred on 

 many hosts and thought them all cross inoculable. During the latter 

 year D. T. Fish (18), a cucumber grower, reported in the same journal 

 a new disease in his greenhouses which he recognized as distinct from 

 the well-known downy mildew. From his rather careful description 

 of the symptoms and behavior of this disease on cucumbers and musk- 

 melons it seems quite likely that it was anthracnose. 



Roumeguere (41), in France, published in 1880 a rather detailed 

 account of this disease, occasioned by its occurrence in epidemic form 

 on melons at Chalons the year previous. In a letter to Roumeguere 

 in 1880 Saccardo reports the disease as causing serious damage in 

 Italy since 1877. 



In Germany Frank (19, p. 518) reported in 1883 that a Gloeo- 

 sporium had been destructive on cucumbers and melons. Acting 

 upon Berkeley's suggestion he tried cross inoculations of cucumber 

 fruits with bean anthracnose. Negative results led him to conclude 

 that the two species of fungi were distinct. 



In America the chief interest seems to have centered about the 

 relation of the bean and the cucumber anthracnoses. The disease 

 was noted as early as 1885 on gourds in Philadelphia by Dr. Eck- 

 feldt and on watermelons in Wisconsin by Prof. A. B. Seymour, 

 according to specimens listed by Ellis and Everhart (15, p. 112; 23). 



Cavara (8, p. 179), at Pavia, Italy, in 1889 found the fungus para- 

 sitic upon the stems and first leaves of Lagenaria vulgaris in the botani- 

 cal garden. He noted that the plants were killed by the disease and 

 that its spread was very rapid. Later, in 1892, he (39) reported the 

 disease on the cotyledons, foliage, stems, and fruits of different cucur- 

 bits in the gardens of Pavia. 



Galloway (20) in 1889 reported anthracnose on melons in New 

 Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina. Halsted (23) , in New Jersey, 

 reported a serious blight of cucumbers in 1890 and of muskmelons in 

 1892 due to this disease. Basing his belief upon successful cross 

 inoculation from a watermelon fruit to bean pods and from both of 

 these to a citron fruit, he concluded that the fungus was identical with 

 that of bean anthracnose. 



Although not recognized as the same disease previously studied by 

 Roumeguere, anthracnose of melons was described by Prillieux and 

 Delacroix (39) m France in 1894. They noted that young plants 



