Notes and Brief Articles 



337 



The following new parasitic fungi were described and il- 

 lustrated by J. J. Davis in the Transactions of the Wisconsin 

 Academy of Sciences 20: 399-431. 1922: Synchytrium pul- 

 vereum, Septoria coreopsidis, Gloeosporium balsameae, Ramu- 

 laria minax, R. cilinodis, Sphaeruiina pollens, Phacidium planum, 

 P. expansum, P. balsameae, Lophodermium thuyae, Stagonospora 

 tetramera, Piggotia vaccinii, Gloeosporium bicolor, Cladosporium 

 astericola, Cercospora tuberculella, and C. tortipes. 



In an article by Miss Wakefield in the West Indian Bulletin 

 for 1921, the general subject of mosaic diseases of plants and 

 their origin is discussed at some length. Infection by a living 

 organism seems to be the only way to cause mosaic, according 

 to Miss Wakefield ; while " discovery of a possible symplastic 

 stage in bacteria, and of the formation of filterable gonidia which 

 may produce new bacteria directly or after having entered the 

 symplastic stage, appears to increase the possibility that eventu- 

 ally many of the infectious filterable viruses may prove to contain 

 living organims." 



The treatment of seeds before planting has usually been based 

 on the supposition that the pathogen to be controlled was ex- 

 ternal ; but C. C. Chen, of the Maryland Experiment Station, has 

 discovered a number of internal fungous parasites of agricul- 

 tural seeds. For example, Cylindrophora in asparagus seed ; 

 Alternaria in cabbage seed ; Fusarium, Macrosporium, and Alter- 

 naria in common beans ; Fusarium in lima beans ; Macrosporium 

 in cowpeas; Macrosporium and Fusarium in soy beans; Oospora 

 in sweet corn seedlings ; and Rhizopus in seeds taken from a 

 rotten tomato. He recommends seed selection, the germination 

 test, and the most approved hot water and hot air treatments. 



Forty-two numbers of fungi were brought back from South 

 America by Dr. H. H. Rusby, collected by himself and other mem- 

 bers of the Mulford biological exploring party in Bolivia. When- 

 ever possible, sufficient material was obtained to make four sets, 

 three of them to be deposited at the New York Botanical Garden, 



