1922] POOLE—FRUIT ROT 211 
sexual, typically by means of conidial spore chains. The spores 
are hyaline, round or oval, and smooth. They vary in size from 2 
to 6 4X6 to 4o pu (fig. 5). 
Symptoms.—The fungus causes a typical soft rot of injured, ripe 
tomato fruits. In some cases there is a fermentation action, due to 
the fungus, which causes the cracks to widen and the juice to flow 
out (fig. 2). The inner tissue is destroyed, while the peeling is not 
noticeably attacked, but dries out and remains on the field as a dry, 
hard shell. In advanced decay the symptoms are not easily dis- 
tinguished from those of a bacterial soft rot of ripe tomato fruit. 
The odor is at first agreeable, but becomes very offensive before 
decay i is complete. Decay of cracked green fruit was not observed 
in the field, but the fungus caused slow decay (fig. 4) in fruit that 
had begun to ripen. 
INOcULATIONS.—Ripe, semiripe, and green tomatoes were 
placed in running water for an hour, treated fifteen minutes with 
bichloride of mercury, washed with sterilized water, and placed in 
dry sterilized glass chambers prepared for inoculation. No infec- 
tion was obtained by spraying spores on uninjured fruit. The 
fungus caused rapid decay of sliced ripe tomatoes in four to six days 
at room temperature, 18—20° C. (fig. 4a). It grows very slowly on 
green or semiripe fruit (fig. 40). 
Spores of Oidium or Oospora lactis were introduced into the 
solid ripe tomatoes by means of a platinum needle. In forty-eight 
hours at room temperature there was good growth in all places 
where inoculated (fig. 2b). The growth was abundant for a similar 
period on deep slices made in the tomato (fig. 2a). Ripe tomatoes 
which were punctured but not inoculated did not become infected 
in the same chambers where other tomatoes were inoculated (fig. 2c). 
DISTRIBUTION, PREVALENCE, Loss.—While no definite data are 
available to show accurately the distribution of the fungus, THom’ 
States: ‘The mold variously known as Oidium or Oospora lactis 
is another cosmopolitan organism. The same or almost indis- 
tinguishable forms are found upon decaying vegetables and fruits, 
which may give reason for the statement that the odor produced of 
?THom, Cuas., Fungi on cheese ripening Camembert and Roquefort. Bur. 
Animal Ind. Bull. 82. 1-40. figs. 3. 1906. 
