74 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 470. 



during the winter, but also the perfect stage, both of which 

 stages of the fungus I had found on Quince leaves which 

 had been lying on the ground in an orchard during the 

 winter. Nothing was found, however, which could in any 

 way be considered connected with the Entomosporium. 

 On the other hand, two species of the genus Sphaerella 

 were found on the Pear leaves, as follows, Sphaerella sen- 

 tina and S. Pyri. 



This led me in the summer of 1895 to look more care- 

 fully for the Entomosporium on spotted Pear leaves. The 

 first diseased leaves which came to my notice were on large 

 nursery trees in the horticultural grounds of Cornell 

 University. The older spots furnished various saprophytic 

 fungi like Cladosporiiim herbarum and pycnidial forms of 

 Pleospora herbarum, but in no case were the spores of the 

 Entomosporium to be found. On the other hand, in the 

 younger spots there was found abundantly a fungus belong- 

 ing to the genus Septoria, a genus which furnishes many 

 species at whose door is laid many leaf-spots of various 

 plants. Ordinarily the spots on the Pear leaves caused by 

 this Septoria would not be noticed to differ from those 

 caused by the Entomosporium, but careful comparison 

 reveals several points of difference. Many of the spots are 

 slightly larger, and there is a great tendency for the spots 

 to be angular and somewhat elongated in shape, while the 

 spots of Entomosporium are more nearly circular. Upon 

 the under side of the leaf at certain stages there appear 

 minute jet-black points, which do not appear in the spots of 

 Entomosporium. The microscope reveals these black points 

 to be made up of long coiled strings of spores which have 

 oozed out of the pycnidium of the Septoria. The individual 

 spores, which are very long, slender and more or less 

 curved or flexuous, have a light green tinge, while in mass 

 they appear black. 



Next the orchard was visited where spraying experiments 

 had been carried on against the Entomosporium, and no 

 trace of this fungus was found. But on several trees the 

 Septoria was present, and in one case the tree was badly 

 blighted, nearly every leaf being affected. Investigations 

 were then made of several large Pear orchards at Geneva, 

 New York, and while both the Septoria and Entomospo- 

 rium were found on a great many trees, the Septoria was 

 by far in the majority, and in many cases both fungi 

 appeared on the same leaf. Material was also secured from 

 a large number of varieties of Pear-trees in a nursery at 

 Syracuse, and here also the Septoria predominated. 



During June, 1896, Mr. B. M. Duggar was appointed on 

 the staff of the Botanical Department as Cryptogamic Bot- 

 anist of the experiment station here, and the investigation 

 was placed in his charge. His observations have con- 

 firmed those of mine concerning the prevalence of the 

 Septoria in the etiology of Pear leaf-spot, the Septoria 

 being more abundant than the Entomosporium. He has 

 been able to obtain a knowledge of a still wider range of 

 the Septoria in this state, and has also received it from a 

 number of other states. He is preparing the matter for a 

 bulletin, and would welcome contributions of Pear leaves 

 supposed to be affected with the Entomosporium from any 

 section of the country, in order that the distribution of the 

 two fungi may be obtained. To those who are interested 

 I would suggest dried material now in the herbarium, the 

 collection of Pear leaves in the early spring which have 

 been on the ground during the winter, and freshly diseased 

 leaves later in the season, and that these be communicated 

 to the department here, since cultures are now in progress 

 to determine the life history of the fungus, and it is desired 

 to obtain and cultivate as many of the species of the genus 

 Sphaerella as possible, since species of Septoria have been 

 in some cases connected with species of Sphaerella. 



Another important fact in connection with the Entomos- 

 porium has also come to light during my study of this 

 fungus. This is the discovery in this country of the per- 

 fect fungus which Sorauer discovered in Europe in connec- 

 tion with E. Mespili on leaves of Cotoneaster tomentosa 

 and Pirus communis. 



Reference has been made above to my discovery of the 

 perfect form on leaves of the Quince which had lain on the 

 ground during the winter. This was in the spring of 1895, 

 and on the same leaves were also spores of the conidial 

 stage of the Entomosporium macuiatum. In discussing 

 this Entomosporium in the report of the Department of 

 Agriculture (1888), Professor Scribner cites Sorauer's work 

 on the perfect stage, and reproduces some of the figures, 

 stating that no other observer had at that time confirmed 

 Sorauer's discovery. Aside from the interest and impor- 

 tance attaching to the discovery of this form in the United 

 States on another host, it is of interest to note that Sorauer 

 places the fungus in the genus Stigmatea, which resembles 

 Sphaerella in the form of the perithecia and ascospores, but 

 differs in possessing paraphyses and in the context of the 

 perithecia. The fungus seems to me rather to belong to 

 the Discomycetes, and is probably a member of the genus 

 Fabraea. This genus belongs to a family of the Discomycetes 

 in which the fruit body at first is closed, as in the Pyrenomy- 

 cetes, to which group Stigmatea belongs, but later the 

 fruit body opens in the form of a cup, so that care is needed 

 in observing the later stages of the fruit body to determine 

 its true character. Also in the case of the genus Fabraea, 

 when the plant is dry the margins of the cup-shaped fruit 

 body collapse and fold together, so that it gives the appear- 

 ance of the closed fruit body of the Pyrenomycetes. On 

 moistening the plant, however, expansion takes place, the 

 margins part, and a broad surface formed by the exposed 

 ends of the asci comes to view. 



From the apparent wide distribution of the Septoria and 

 from the very probable confusion with the Entomosporium 

 in the case of some spraying experiments, it would seem 

 that the success which has attended the efforts to combat 

 Pear leaf-spot demonstrates by circumstantial evidence that 

 spraying in the usual way will check the Septoria. In 

 connection with nursery stock, one year's stock will some- 

 times be affected almost entirely with the Entomosporium, 

 and another year's stock almost entirely with the Septoria. 

 This suggests that in budding nursery stock or in grafting, 

 the buds in such cases have been taken from trees affected 

 either with the Septoria or Entomosporium ; in fact, that 

 one of the prolific causes of the appearance of the spot in 

 nurseries may be traced to the buds which already may 

 have the germs of the disease. If this should prove to be 

 true, caution in the selection of budding stock, or in its 

 disinfection before grafting, could be recommended. 



Cornell University. George F. AtklnSOH. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



Anoiganthus Breviflorus. — This south African bulbous 

 plant, valuable for the conservatory in winter, is related to 

 the Sternbergias and Cyrtanthuses, and is as easily man- 

 aged as a Daffodil. The bulb is ovoid, two inches long ; 

 the leaves are strap-shaped, erect, about a foot long, decid- 

 uous, new ones being developed along with the flowers. 

 These are produced in umbels on erect scapes a foot long, 

 strong plants having ten or a dozen flowers in the umbel. 

 They are tubular, between one and two inches long, at first 

 erect, afterward more or less drooping, their color a bright 

 Daffodil-yellow. In the Cape-house at Kew there are some 

 fine examples of this plant in flower; they are mixed with 

 a group of white-flowered Freesias. During the summer 

 the Anoiganthus is grown in a sunny frame, and after the 

 leaves die off in autumn they are kept dry till the flower- 

 scapes begin to appear. They prefer a rich loamy soil, 

 with plenty of water while in growth. The genus is mono- 

 typic. It was introduced from Natal about eight year£ ago. 



Kniphofia primulina. — This is a new species which Mr. 

 Baker has described from plants now flowering in the tem- 

 perate house at Kew, where it has been an attraction for 

 the past month or so. It has the general characters of 

 Kniphofia Natalensis, but the leaves are three feet long and 

 an inch broad ; the scape is three feet high, bearing a dense 



