INVESTIGATIONS ON THE NARCISSUS DISEASE. 
57 
attacking all the scale leaves. In such cases each "nose " of the bulb 
must be topped, otherwise there may be no trace of the malady if one 
"nose" only is cut. Bulbs thus affected, however, generally exhibit 
rottenness at the base. 
It will be of interest to hybridists to mention the fact that Tylenchus 
has been found in both the mature and immature carpels of the flower. 
In the mature carpel examined no seeds had formed, but it is quite 
possible that had seeds developed they would have contained eelworms, 
judging from the analogous case of oats, which when affected in the 
grain gives the plant an appearance as though attacked by Ergot. 
It has often been said that the disease never makes its appearance in 
seedlings until after the bulb flowers. This seems unlikely, and ex- 
periments to test it are under way. One raiser went so far as to say 
that as soon as he named a seedling he killed the bulb. On going into 
details of cultivation, the writer was informed that the seedlings were 
pricked into beds in cold frames, where they remained until they were 
of flowering size, and then they were planted in the open ground. 
The bulbs flowered the first year, and those found deserving of a name 
retained. The next year the disease made itself evident, and thus this 
hybridist was, no doubt, justified in making the above remark. If, 
however, the seedlings had been pricked out into beds in the open 
air instead of in cold frames, the results might have led him to a 
different conclusion. If onions can be, and are, affected as soon as 
they germinate, there is every reason to assume that Narcissi can be 
likewise attacked. 
During the investigation at least two species of Fusarium have been 
isolated in pure culture, and plants have been inoculated in the follow- 
ing manner : (i) on the wound left by removing the flower stem, (2) on 
the injured foliage, and (3) on the uninjured foliage. The plants 
were grown under bell glasses in the greenhouse at a temperature of 
about 60 0 F. The experiments are at present in progress, but the 
fungus is of very slow growth, and the attack upon the foliage cannot 
be compared with the rapidity with which Tylenchus affects plants 
grown under exactly the same conditions, inoculated at the same 
time and in the same manner. When healthy leaves are placed on 
moist blotting-paper in Petri dishes and kept at room temperature 
the Fusarium makes rapid growth both on injured and uninjured 
leaves. 
Many bulbs affected by Fusarium were found in the storage sheds 
of a large bulb farm in the south of England, and in every case the 
Fusarium had occupied the damaged bases of bulbs already affected 
with eelworm. This Fusarium appears to be the species described 
by Mr. Massee as being the cause of the disease. Another species 
was found at Wisley, appearing in salmon-stained tissue of eelworm - 
affected bulbs. 
Bulbs have also been received affected by Merodon, Sciara, bulb- 
mite, and Eumerus, while among fungi Sclerotinia bulborum, Phyllo- 
sticta Narcissi, and Stagonospora Narcissi have been seen ; the two 
