is 



" Another poiut upon which information may be 

 " wanted is as to the extent of the damage done by the 

 " Hemileia to the plants on which it is found. I have rot 

 " yet had much time to observe, but it appears to me that 

 "the damage done to the plants of Vangueria infausta is 

 " equal to that done by H. vastatrix on coffee trees in 

 " Ceylon, the leaves of the shrub turn yellow, wither and 

 " fall off, leaving the plant somewhat almost bare, and I 

 " think that it will be an exception if any amount of fruit 

 11 be found on a tree which has been severely attacked. I 

 11 do not remember to have seen any badly affected tree 

 " with much, if any fruit upon it, though I gathered a 

 " week ago a number of fruits from a tree which bad 

 " scarcely a trace of the fnngus upon it. I have also found 

 " anothei fungus upon the Vangueria, an Aecidium I think; 

 " it may easily be distinguished from the Hemileia by its 

 "more definate sori and cellular peridium, but I do not 

 "think that it damages the trees to the same extent as 

 " does the Hemileia, and I have occasionally found both 

 " fungi upon the same plant. One question occurs to me 

 " as being worthy of further investigation, it is this, is it 

 " possible that the Aecidium is but another form of the 

 " Hemileia ? You are aware that the existence of poly- 

 " morphism in these fungi has only been completely 

 "proved within the last few years, and both good instiu- 

 " ments and careful observers; are required to determine 

 " with certainty whether any two forms belong to the 

 "same cycle or not. Whether the Hemileia has two or 

 " three forms or not, is, perhaps, only interesting to men 

 " of science ; its effects upon the plant which serves as the 

 " host remain still the same." 



In the year 1882, I removed from Iuanda, where I had 

 lived for some years, and came to Durban as Curator of the 

 Botauic Gardens, and in 1884 while passing Lower Umzimkulu 

 I collected Hemileia Woodii on Vangueria infausta and showed 

 it tc Mr. Walter Bissett, who thinking that it was H. vastatrix 

 became rather alarmed, as he had seeti the ravages that this 

 fungus had made in Ceylon. I explained to him that it was H. 

 Woodii not if. vastatrix, but advised him to have all the plants 

 of the Vangueria in the vicinity rooted out and burned, as I 

 felt sure that it would eventually transfer itself to the Coffee. 

 A few weeks afterwards the true H. vastatrix was found upon 

 some Coffee trees belonging to Mr. D. C. Aiken. I therefore by 

 request accompanied Mr. Harry Bissett to Maritzburg, where 

 we saw Sir Chas. Mitchell, and as the result of the interview, 

 Government purchased the small patch of Coffee and the trees 

 were cut down and burned, the roots being unfortunately left 



