Mr..  Barber,  llie  Government  Botanist,  Madras,  states  that 
Cassia  mimosoides  may  possess  nitrogenous  nodules  atid  eel-worm 
galls.  This  I have  been  able  to  confirm  in  plants  at  the  Hakgala 
Garden.  The  best  naked  eye  character  to  depend  upon  in  judging 
between  the  two  classes  is  the  relative  freedom  of  the  swolen  part; 
nitrogenous  nodules  are  attached  very  feebly  to  one  side  of  the 
small  root  or  rootlets,  and  a slight  pull  will  detach  them  with  ease; 
whereas  those  produced  by  nematodes  are  more  in  the  nature  of 
swellings  in  the  actual  root  or  rootlet,  and  though  they  often  occur 
on  one  side  only,  they  are  more  frequently  extended  through  a great- 
er part  of  the  circumference  and  cannot  be  detached  separately  from 
the  root.  In  the  young  stages  it  is  bv  no  means  easv  to  distinguish 
one  class  from  another  by  the  naked  eye,  a case  in  point  being  the 
eel-worm  galls  reported  by  Mr.  Barber  on  the  Cinchona  in  Ma- 
dras. In  cases  of  doubt  a transverse  section  of  the  swollen  material 
seen  under  the  microscope  or  with  a good  lens  will  settle  the  mat- 
ter very  speedily;  in  sections  of  true  nitrogenous  nodules  every 
component  cell  is  considerably  swolen  and  the  majoritv  are  packed 
with  minute  bacteria-like  bodies,  whereas  in  a nematode  nodule 
the  large  cysts  of  the  worm  and  frequently  part  of  the  body  can 
be  seen. 
The  nematodes  are  much  more  generally  distribu!ed  throughout 
the  plant  kingdon  than  nitrogenous  nodules,  as  may  be  judged 
from  their  occurrence  on  beetroot,  sugarcane,  cucumber,  wheat, 
onions,  cinchona,  papaw,  lettuce  and  tomato.  Mr.  Greem,  the 
(jovernment  Fhitomologist.  has  aUo  found  them  on  the  roots  of  the 
common  balsam  and  species  of  Coleus  and  Heliotrope.  I have 
examined  tea  planter’s  nurseries  and  found  that  the  leguminous 
species  that  the  expe  imental  planter  was  growing  for  green  dress- 
ings for  his  tea  had  their  roots  packed  with  eel-worm  galls  only. 
These  were  being  zealously  attended  to  in  'the  belief  that  they 
were  nitrogenous  nodules  of  exceptional  size.  i he  fact  that  the 
presence  of  these  eel-worm  galls  has  been  determined  on  roots  of 
tea  botli  in  Ceylon  and  India  is  sufficient  to  make  one  examine, 
very  carefully’,  the  nature  of  the  nodules  which  may’  occur  on  the 
leguminous  plants  used  for  nitrogen  collectiiig.  dhe  following 
list  includes  the  more  common  plants  on  which  nematode  nodules 
or  galls  have  been  found: — Ageratum  conyzoides  ("Goat  weed” 
or  Pumpulla),  Impatiens  Sultani  (Chitta  maddi),  I riumfetta  rhom- 
boidea  (Epala),  Cassia  mimosoides  (Binsivambala),  Mollugo  penta- 
phylla.  1..,  Impatiens  kleinii,  Impatiens  balsamina,  Sida  rhombi- 
tolia.  Tea,  species  of  Coleus,  Heliotrope,  Cinchona,  French  bean, 
Phaseolus  vulgaris.  Desmodium  sp.,  Saccharum  officinalis.  Acacia 
decurrens.  Piper  subpeltatum,  and  numerous  garden  cultivations 
such  as  those  previouslv’  mentioned. 
The  nitrogenous  nodules  may  be  divided  into  two  classes,  one 
comprising  those  which  are  approximately  globular  in  form,  e.cr, 
Erythrina  iadica  and  Phaseolus  vulffaris\W\^  other  includes  those 
that  are  flat  and  grooved  and  h:ive  the  appearance  of  miniature 
finger-like  projections  from  a common  centre,  the  latter  being  the 
