State Museum of Natural History. 27 



or less irregular and unsightly swellings or excrescences on the tassel 

 or the ears of the corn. Very rarely these swellings occur on the stem 

 and leaves also, but as a rule they occur on the tassels and ears and 

 more often on the latter than on the former. They are very variable 

 in size and shape. Generally they range from the size of a hazel-nut 

 " to that of an ordinary apple. They are soft to the touch and externally 

 whitish and membranous, but they soon rupture and are then more or 

 less stained by their own contents. The interior is composed of a 

 shreddy mass of tissue filled in and covered over with a copious blackish- 

 brown dust or powder that crocks the fingers in handling it or the 

 clothes that brush against it. By microscopic examination this is 

 found to be a mass of globular grains each one of which has a diameter 

 of about four ten-thousandths of an inch ; that is, it would take two 

 thousand five hundred of them when laid in a straight row in contact 

 with each other to cover the space of one inch. The surface is covered 

 with minute points or prominences which gives them a rough but 

 pretty appearance under the microscope. These powdery grains are 

 the spores, that is, the seeds of the fungus. There are thousands, 

 perhaps millions of them in a single excrescence. Nature has thus 

 made plentiful provision for the multiplication and spread of the 

 fungus. This and other closely related fungi have been specially 

 studied by Professor Fischer Von Waldheim who finds that the fungus 

 enters the corn while yet young, tender and germinating. The spores 

 of the fungus are scattered over the ground by the wind. They may 

 then be carried beneath its surface by rain or water soaking into the 

 ground or the farmer himself in preparing his ground and planting 

 his seed may unwittingly plant beneath the surface the seeds of a crop 

 of fungi. If any of these spores happen to be in such a position that 

 they come in contact with the young corn sprout in its upward growth 

 they immediately send forth their growing filaments which penetrate 

 the tender tissues of the young plant. When they have established 

 themselves within the supporting plant they continue to live at its 

 expense and grow with its growth, extending themselves upward 

 through the stem as it elongates, until the proper time comes for them 

 to break forth in excrescences and perfect a new crop of spores. 

 It is characteristic of the smuts that they perfect their spores in certain 

 definite parts of the supporting plant, though their mycelial threads 

 may pervade all parts of the plant. A few produce their spores in the 

 leaves or on the stem, but most of them develop their fruit in the 

 flowers or seeds of the host plant. A knowledge of this fact is impor- 

 tant in case it is deemed desirable to attempt the destruction or extermi- 

 nation of the parasite. It may serve as a guide to us in our search for 

 the pest, informing us both as to the time when and the place where. 

 In the case of the Indian corn smut it would be useless to look for it 

 before the tassels appear. I am not aware that any experiments, made 

 with the purpose to discover a remedy for this malady, have been 

 successful. It is not probable that any external application will be of 

 much avail, for the threads of the fungus are well protected by the 

 surrounding tissues of the supporting plant. In this, as in so many 

 other cases, prevention is better than cure. Although it may not be 

 possible wholly to prevent the attacks of this pest, yet it is reasonable 



