State Museum of Natural History. 31 



throughout the season, and, so far as my observation goes, it attacks 

 especially those plants that grow in exposed, sunny places, or on dry, 

 light or sandy soils. To what extent the productiveness of the plants 

 is diminished or the quality of the fruit is deteriorated by the attacks 

 of this fungus.. I have no data for determining. 



The generic name Ramularia is derived from the Latin ramulus, a 

 little branch, and has reference to the disposition of the stems to bear 

 branches occasionally. The species inhabit the living leaves of plants 

 and produce spots on them which at once indicate the presence of the 

 fungus. In some species several spores occur on one stem, they being 

 attached eud to end like the links of a chain. A species of Ramularia 

 occurs in Europe on the leaves of the Indian strawberry, Frag aria 

 Indica, but I have seen no specimens of it. The figure of it in 

 " Fungi Italici " indicates that it has thicker stems than our plant and 

 that they are swollen in the middle and narrower toward each end. 



Mucor ingequalis, Ph. Black Squash Mold. (Plate 3, figs. 16-18.) 

 This mold attacks squashes and pumpkins in Autumn, or even in 

 Winter, if kept in a warm place. It does not require a very high 

 temperature for its development. The mycelioid threads of the fungus 

 permeate the cells of the squash or pumpkin, producing soft pulpy 

 rotten spots in the flesh. These threads are comparatively coarse and 

 they send off numerous branches in every direction. -If their progress 

 is not interrupted they continue to extend themselves until the whole 

 squash is rendered worthless. On the surface or exposed part of the 

 affected places numerous thread-like stems grow up about one-twelfth 

 of an inch high, each one of which bears a minute globose head. 

 These stems and their swollen tips are at first of a milky-white color, the 

 tips shining and appearing somewhat like a drop of dew; but they 

 gradually assume a darker hue and finally become blackish or bluish- 

 black. The growth is often so dense and extensive that to the naked 

 eye it appears like a black felty patch. The stems are generally un- 

 divided, but occasionally one is found separating near the base into two 

 branches. The heads contain the spores of the fungus. These are 

 nearly black in color and very unequal in size, a character which 

 suggests the specific name inwqualis which has been given to the fungus. 

 The spores vary from two to six ten-thousandths of an inch in length. 

 They are also very variable in shape, some being nearly globose, others 

 broadly elliptical, and others, especially the larger ones, more or less 

 angular or irregular as if they had been so closely crowded in the head as 

 to be pressed out of proper shape. This variable character of the spores, 

 together with the dark color of the plant, serves to distinguish this 

 mold from all other species known to # me. Another somewhat similar 

 species attacks the pumpkin occasionally, but its stems are longer and 

 permanently white and its spores are more uniform in size and shape. 

 Several other species attack melons and gourds but all are readily 

 distinguished from the present one. The growth of this mold is very 

 rapid. A piece was cut from a pumpkin iufected by the mycelium of 

 its fungus and placed in a warm room. The next day the cut surface 

 was covered with a black patch of the mature mold. It is probable, 

 however, that in a lower temperature its development is less rapid. 

 Obvious methods of checking the spread of the fungus are: first, remove 



