114 



Mycologia 



saw anything like it. Wonderful flowering trees and vines with 

 enormous blooms, and of course epiphytes in great numbers. 

 However, it began to rain as we reached the woods, and it blew 

 fifty miles an hour. The trail, one to two feet deep in mud and 

 water, was certainly fierce ! " 



After about six weeks in Costa Rica, which included a trip to 

 the Pacific coast and an ascent of Volcan de Irazu, Professor 

 Holway departed by way of Limon on January 23, 1916. The 

 quantity of material secured was somewhat disappointing, partly 

 due to the unfavorable season, but it was rich m interesting forms, 

 every fifth species being new to science or else to North America. 

 The general impression left by the experience could doubtless be 

 expressed in the sentiment of the words with which the Calverts 

 close their recent volume on " A year of Costa Rican natural his- 

 tory." They say : " Our most cherished dream is of returning to 

 the Enchanted Land." 



There is one rust which Professor Holway fortunately did 

 not find. In the herbarium of the Missouri Botanical Garden 

 there is a specimen labelled " Hemileia vastatrix, on cofTee, Costa 

 Rica, distributed in Tonduz' Enfermedad Cafetera, 1893." The 

 small portion of this specimen, which the writer has been privi- 

 leged to examine, yielded no rust, but did bear some other fungus. 

 In December, 191 5, I wrote to Professor Holway, who was then 

 in Costa Rica, about this specimen, and at his suggestion en- 

 listed the assistance of Mr. F. Nutter Cox, British Consul at San 

 Jose, who is interested in cofTee production, and has considerable 

 botanical knowledge of the region. Mr. Cox transmitted a letter 

 from Sr. A. Tonduz, of the date of May 8, 1916, who is now 

 officially connected with the Department of Agriculture of Costa 

 Rica, and considerately gave a translation from the Spanish orig- 

 inal. The part of the latter which follows puts the matter very 

 clearly. 



" In 1893 m Y pamphlet on ' A cofTee leaf disease' (Enfermedad 

 del cafeto) was accompanied by dried leaves of cofTee attacked 

 by Stilbum flavidiim, a fungous growth causing ' maya ' or 

 ' virucla,' the disease which formed the subject of the study or 

 thesis. I do not know to whom it has occurred to label these 



