2 BULLETIX 82, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGBICULTTJEE. 



object of this bulletin to call attention to this fact an<3 ask the con- 

 d effort of all interested in the potato industiy to prevent the 

 spread of this malady. 



COMMON NAME OF THE DISEASE CAUSED BY SPONGOSPORA. 



Spongospora, like many other fungi, has been given a variety of 

 common names. In Germany it was early known as "Kartoffel- 

 raude " (Wallroth, 18426) among the farmers. By Wallroth (1842a), 

 who first recorded its occurrence and who considered it a smut, it 

 was given the common name "Knollenbrand." According to 

 Brunchorst it is called " Skorv" in Norway, and is identical with the 

 disease known as "Schorf" or " Grind" in Germany. In the British 

 Isles, where it has been most intensively studied, it has been called 

 corky end, corky scab (Johnson, 1908), powdery scab, Spongospora 

 scab, and potato canker. The name powdery scab, which was first 

 applied to it by Johnson, of Ireland, is in most common use at the 

 present time. This name has reference to a characteristic symptom 

 of the mature spot, or sorus, as it appears when the infected tuber 

 is dug from the ground. 



SCD2NTD7IC NAME OF POWDERY SCAB. 



The scientific name of Spongospora has been changed even more 

 often than its common name. This has probably been due (1) to the 

 imperfect understanding of the life history of the fungus and (2) to 

 the superficial resemblance of the spore balls of Spongospora to those 

 of the smuts. Wallroth (1842&), who first collected Spongospora in 

 1841, named it Erysibe subterranea. It was described and figured by 

 Martins (1842) as Protomyces tuberum solani. In 1844 Rabenhorst 

 concluded it was not a species of Erysibe and described it in a new 

 genus, Rliyzosporium solani. That Berkeley (1846) was familiar with 

 the fungus and knew that it had been reported previously is apparent 

 from a short note in one of his articles on the potato murrain published 

 in 1846. He mentions Martius's Protomyces and figures the spore 

 -. choosing, however, to call it Tuburcinia scabies (Berkeley, 1850). 

 The name of the organism was again changed in 1877 by Fischer von 

 Wuhlheira, who placed it in another genus and called it Sorosporium 

 scabies Berk. 



It was not until 1886, when Brunchorst found Spongospora on 

 potatoes in Norway, that it was shifted into the correct group, namely 

 the Myxomycetes. Why Brunchorst failed to recognize or mention 

 any of the earlier descriptions of Spongospora is not explained in his 

 paper. That he was aware of the fact that the same disease existed 

 in Germany and perhaps in England is evident from the following 

 sentence : 



Was. das Vorkommen dcs Spongospora betrifft, ist derselbe bier in Norwegen 

 aus=erst verbreitet; wenn es 6ich. bestatigen sollte, was ich sicher glaube, dass dec 



