MEETINGS* 7 



the following insects, new to the Guernsey list :— (a) Mona- 

 locornis filicis, taken on Whit Monday on the cliffs at 

 Pleinmont. (b) Gnathoconus albo-marg hiatus, taken on Whit 

 Tuesday at Saints' Bay ; rare in England, being found only 

 on the south coast and Isle of Wight. 



The President read the following note on the " Sleeping 

 Disease in Tomatoes " : — 



NOTE 



ON THE FUNGUS PRODUCING THE " SLEEPING DISEASE IN 



TOMATOES." 

 BY A. COLLENETTE, F.C.S. 



The tomatoes in Guernsey have for the last three years 

 been attacked by a disease called locally the "sleeping disease." 

 Desiring to understand it, and, if possible, cure it, I inves- 

 tigated the matter during last year, with the result that I 

 became convinced that a fungus found present in all the plants 

 examined was the cause of the disease. At the request of the 

 Council of the Royal Horticultural Society of England I 

 described the disease and its development in a paper read 

 before that Society last March.- Professor Henslow then 

 wrote me and asked for specimens, which I forwarded, and in 

 which he found the fungus and forwarded them on to Mr. S. 

 Massee, of Kew. More specimens have been sent on to Kew, 

 and Mr. Massee now informs me that the fungus is undoubt- 

 edly the cause of the disease, which he assures me has become 

 general in England. Mr. Massee has studied the fungus and 

 now writes as follows : — " The fungus is a polymorphic one 

 and has five resting spores that spend their resting stage in the 

 soil. The commonest phase belongs to the form-genus 

 Fusariam" The disease will be kept under observation in 

 the hope of discovering other useful details, among others, the 

 possibility of getting the disease through the medium of the 

 seed as well as through the soil."* 



Mr. Collenette also drew attention to the fact that the 

 work of the Society had been referred to frequently in the 

 " Annals of British Geology for 1893." 



The Secretary of the Botanical Section reported on the 

 work done during the recent outdoor meetings, and also read 

 the list of plants added to the flora of Jethou on the visit to 

 that Island in 1894. 



The bones recently found in the peat deposit at F Ancresse 

 were exhibited, and a comparison made with the bones and 

 teeth of known animals. 



* During the month of October Mr. Massee communicated the fact that he had 

 grown the disease by means of the infected seed. Local observations have also 

 given the same results. 





