16 



On Ustilago virens Cooke and a New Species 

 of Tilletia parasitic on Rice-plant. 



By 

 Y. Takahashi, Nogakushi, 



With PL II. 



It is the object of this paper to show in detail the morphological 

 nature of Ustilago virens Cooke (1J and to point out that it is identical 

 with Tilletia oryzae (2) of Patouillard, which was recently proved by 

 Brefeld (3) to belong to the fungi imperfecta and not to the Ustilaginece. 

 He proved this by cultivating the spores in a nutrient solution and 

 by showing that they reproduced the so-called smut-spores from the 

 sclerotioid mass of hyphse produced in the fluid. He •founded a new 

 genus, Ustilaginoidea , on this species and the another which is parasitic 

 on Setaria. I will also take advantage of this opportunity to report 

 on an yet undescribed species of Tilletia, which is found parasitic on 

 rice-plant in Japan. 



I am induced to do so in this connection, because it is erroneously 

 referred by some to Tilletia oryzce Pat. and it is the only species of 

 Ustilaginece found on Oryza sativa L. up to this time. 



Ustilago virens Cooke, one of the wellknown fungi in Japan, is 

 characterized by the formation in place of the fruit of the peculiar 

 sporiferous body, which is at least twice as large as the normal one. 

 These sporiferous bodies are round or oblong in shape and uneven on 

 their surface, when fresh, resembling, in some ways the convolutions 

 of the braiu (Fig. ]). Their outer portion consists of a powdery but 

 somewhat sticky mass of spores, which cover all the surface except the 



(i) Cooke, Grevillea, Vol. VII, p. 15. 



Thumen, Die Pilze der Reispflanzen, p. 3. 



Saccardo, Sylloge Fungorum, Vol. VII, p. 467. 

 (2) Patouillard, Champignons extra enropeens. Bull. Soc. Myc. France, T. Ill, Fasc. 2. 



1887, p. 124. PI. X, Fig. 2. 



Saccardo, Sylloge Fungorum Vol. IX, p. 28G. 

 < 8 ) Brefeld, TJntersuchungen aus dem Gesammtgeb. der Mykologie, Heft XII, 1895. — Rev. 



in Hedwigia, Bd. XXX IV, 1895, Eepert. S. 140. 



