The Ustilaginee, or Smuts, of Connecticut. 
GENERAL CHARACTERS OF THE SMUTS. 
The Ustilaginez are an order of parasitic fungi commonly 
known as the smuts, of which corn, oat, and onion smuts are 
familiar examples. See Figs. 55, 43, 42. Thus the more evi- 
dent characters of these fungi are the black, dusty masses that 
break out on the surface of the infected plants (hosts). In 
these macroscopic characters the smuts are often very similar 
to the rusts, but with a little experience one can readily dis- 
tinguish them from these even with the naked eye. The dusty 
uredo stage of the rusts, for instance, is of a lighter reddish 
color, and the darker teleuto stage is usually more firmly em- 
bedded in the plant tissues, than are the smuts. Not all of the 
smuts, however, produce dark dusty outbreaks, since the white 
smuts are light colored and usually permanently embedded in 
the tissues of the host. Generally they occur in the leaves, 
and often are distinguished by light colored spots produced 
without distortion of tissues. More experience is needed to 
distinguish these forms. See Figs. 29-34. 
The smuts occur on a great variety of flowering plants, 
and at least 35 different families of plants in North America 
and 17 in Connecticut are subject to their attack. The 
grasses, however, are by far the most frequent hosts. Be- 
tween 500 and 600 species of smuts have been described from 
different parts of the world, and over 200 of these occur in 
North America. The number of species known from this 
state * is 50, and these represent 12 of the 19 genera reported 
from North America. While time no doubt will reveal a few 
more species and a greater number of hosts not reported here, 
we may still consider the group rather thoroughly worked up, 
since, as yet, only one other state has reported a greater num- 
ber of species. 
* The list of smuts reported in this paper is based chiefly on the collections 
made by the writer during the past three seasons. Specimens of these are to be 
found in the herbarium of the Conn. Agr. Exp. Station at New Haven and in the 
writer’s herbarium. Collections made by others are indicated in each case by the 
name of the collector. 
