112 MAINE STATE COLLEGE 



kept in warm, moist places. The}' may readily be known by their 

 smoky black color, and the dense, erect coating of fine thread- 

 like fibres with which they cover the substance attacked. These 

 fibres bear at the ends small, round head like fruits, that are filled 

 with small, oblong bodies called spores, capable of reproducing the 

 mold. Where the fibres cross, spox-e-bearing bodies are also pro- 

 duced by a sexual process called conjugation. These sjjores have 

 great vitality and will grow after they have been dried a long 

 time. This accounts for their being everywhere. The spores are 

 light and can be carried a long way by wind. A dry atmospliere 

 is always prejudicial to their growth. The specimen sent l)y Mr. 

 Martinis not a Mncor, but belongs to the genuH phycomyces of 

 the same family. It is quite common in Maine, but prefers oily 

 instead of starchy substances to feed upon. We have frequently 

 found it upon the excrement of cats, which was buried in dirt, 

 or spent ashes out-of-doors, or more commonly in cellars that 

 cats have access to, or under out-houses. The fibres of this 

 plant are sometimes six or eight inches long and in dark cellars a 

 beautiful, glossy black and wonderfully like hair in appearance. 

 The specimens grown in more light, or in the laboratory, are less 

 luxuriant and paler colored. The common species of Mucor are 

 much smaller and shorter fibred. The spores of specimens kept 

 in a dry laboratory for five years, germinated readily on bread in a 

 moist chamber. This species of phycomyces showed streaming of 

 cells contents (cyclosis) very nicely in a double current along the 

 walls of the cells which joined at the end and flowed back down 

 the centre. 



The origin of the specimens sent by Mr. Martin was plainly the 

 excrement of some animal that had been buried in the potato hill. 

 The specimen submitted was growing on excrement, not on a 

 piece of potato. If the potatoes of the hill were affected the 

 fungus originated in the excrement and spread to them. This 

 fungus is interesting, and is sure to attract attention, though it is 

 not to be regarded as especially injurious. 



Anthracnose of the Raspberry and Blackberry. 



Glceosporium venetum, S'peg. 



Mr. Chas. S. Pope, of Manchester, Me., sent us the past sea- 

 son a bundle of raspberry canes badly infested with the above 

 disease. He said : "My bushes are all dying with this disease. 



