17 



Ascigerous Stage 

 The ascigerous stage of ergot, or£. purpurea Tal, was first de- 

 scribed by PauOet (1793) xmder tha name STahaeropus fupgoruni . and then by- 

 Fries (1832) under the naire Sphaeria purptirea . Schumacher (1823) called 

 the saire Sphaeria entoirorhiza and ^. capitata . V/allroth (1844) described 

 it as jgentrosporium purpurea dn K. niitratum . These two correspond to the 

 tv/o Sphaeria species of Schunacher. Fries later (1846) applied the name 

 Cordvceps purpurea . Tulasne (1851) called it Cordiliceps purpurea and 

 finally ( 1853 Claviceps purpurea . 



Conidial State 

 Pries (1822) first described the conidial stage of ergot under 

 the name gpermoedia clavus . Leveille (154) in 1826 noticed that the ergot 

 coinffienced with this soft covering (the sphacelia stage) and considering 

 it to be a distinct fungus parasitic on the ergot, and proposed for it the 

 name Sphacelia segetum. Nees applied to it the name Fusarium heterosporum 

 (Sacc. Syil. Pungorum, no. 2, p, 565. John Smith(236) and Quackett in 

 1841, published a description of the structvire of the fungus in this 

 sphacelia! condition, as far as they were able to observe it. They thonght 

 it was an amorphous mass of small spherical cells, with a number of larger 



Sjjacelia is a word derived from the Greek and meaning gangrene; the same 



word in a secondary sense means mildew. We have the English work Sphacelate, 

 which means to become affected with gangrene. 



