2o6 MAINE AGRICULTU-^Al, EXPERIMENT STATION. I913. 



Others on the abihty of this fungus to cause a rotting of the 

 fruits in this way refuting the claims of a number of European 

 investigators." The writer did not find anything in Oster- 

 walder's account to indicate that he regarded F. putrefaciens 

 and C. roseuin as identical. In connection with the fact that 

 C. roseum was isolated from an apple which decayed after 

 inoculation with the Fusarium, the status of C. roseum as an. 

 apple decay is discussed but this is followed in the next para- 

 graph by a discussion of the species of Fusarium which have 

 been described from apple fruit with the result that it was 

 decided that the Fusarium which had been studied should be 

 regarded as a new species, F. putrefaciens. 



Owing to the similarity of the decay found in Maine to 

 that described by Osterwalder and the fact that one of the fungi, 

 F I, found here seemed to agree rather closely with the descrip- 

 tion of F. putrefaciens, a culture was secured from Dr. Oster- 

 walder in July, 1909, and has been grown on the same media' 

 since that time for comparison with the species isolated in 

 Maine :* Some slight differences have been observed in cultural 

 characteristics chiefly in the red color of the mycelium. The 

 red color is much brighter in the Maine form than in the Euro- 

 pean on the same medium under the same conditions. Inocula- 

 tions of apples showed that F. putrefaciens and the similar form 

 from Maine caused decay of fruit at so nearly the same rate that 

 one could not be regarded as a more active cause of decay than 

 the other. 



Each year since 1908 a considerable number of apples have 

 been found in which a Fusarium was causing decay. The 

 Fusarium rot is easily distinguished from the other common 

 apple rots in its later stages when the mycelium has grown out 

 through the lenticels and has partially covered the surface of 

 the apple. This aerial mycelium is white at first but soon takes 

 on some red and yellow color. In the early stages it is not 

 always possible to distinguish this rot from those caused by 

 other fungi. The decayed tissues are light brown in color and 

 are bitter to the taste. The skin of the apple is darker in color 

 than in the case of apples rotted by Penicillium but not so dark 

 as with Sphaeropsis or Glomerella. 



* See foot-note p. 254. 



