306 USTILAGINEAE. 



T. bullatum Schroet. (U.S. America). The ovaries of Panicum 

 Crvs-galli are transformed by this fungus into spherical tumour- 

 like bodies, which project from the otherwise unchanged flower 

 and enclose the black spore-masses. The spore-balls consist of 

 hundreds of spores which, Brefeld says, germinate in water in 

 the following year. Each produces one, two, or three two- 

 celled promyeelia, which give off terminal spindle-shaped conidia; 

 these sprout in nutritive solutions and ultimately form aerial 

 conidia. 



T. Cocconii Mor. In leaves of Carex recnrva in North Italy. 

 T. penicillariae Bref. On Penicillaria spicata from Simla. 

 T. cenchri Bref. On Cenchms echinattis. 



Tilletia. 



Spores formed from hyphae, which swell up in a gelatinous 

 manner. Conidia spindle-shaped or filamentous, and produced 

 in whorls from the extremity of a non-septate promycelium ; 

 they are developed only in air and generally fuse in pairs 

 before being detached from the promycelium. 



Tilletia tritici (Byerk.) {T. caries Tul.) (Britain and U.S. 

 America). Smut, stink-brand or stinking-smut of wheat. 



This constitutes one of the most destructive smuts of wheat- 

 grain, not only destroying the grains actually attacked, but the 

 black spores cause such damage to the remainder, when threshed 

 or ground, that it is useless for bread-making. The presence 

 of this fungus is most obnoxious from its strong odour of herring- 

 brine or trimethylamin, hence the name stinking-smut or stink- 

 brand. The smut also possesses poisonous properties which make 

 flour contaminated with it dangerous to human beings, and the 

 straw or chaff injurious to cattle. 



Certain diseases are produced iu animals by the consumption of smut- 

 fungi with food. The effects of each species of smut have not as yet been 

 closely investigated, but Tilletia tritici seems to be one of the chief causes 

 of trouble. The following are also suspicious : Ustilago maydis and the 

 various species of Ustilago which attack oats, barley, wheat, and grasses. 

 The symptoms in the few cases of disease observed do not agree very 

 closely. A paralyzing effect on the centres of deglutition and the spinal 

 cord seems to be regularly present. As a result one generally finds a 

 continuous chewing movement of the jaws, and a flow of saliva, also 

 lameness, staggering, and falling. Cattle, sheep, swine, and horses are all 

 liable to attack. 



