2 BULLETIN" 82, U, S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
object of this bulletin to call attention to this fact find ask the con- 
certed effort of all interested in the potato industry to prevent the 
spread of this malady. 
COMMON NAME OF THE DISEASE CAUSED BY SPONGOSPOEA. 
Spongospora, like many other fungi, has been given a variety of 
common names. In Germany it was early known as "Kartoffel- | 
raude" (Wallroth, 18425) among the farmers. By Wallroth (1842a), 
who first recorded its occurrence and who considered it a smut, it 
was given the common name "Knollenbrand." According to 
Brunchorst it is called "Skorv" in Norway, and is identical with the 
disease known as "Schorf" or u Grind" in Germany. In the British 
Isles, where it has been most intensively studied, it has been called 
corky end, corky scab (Johnson, 1908), powdery scab, Spongospora 
scab, and potato canker. The name powdery scab, which was first 
applied to it by Johnson, of Ireland, is in most common use at the 
present time. This name has reference to a characteristic symptom 
of the mature spot, or sorus, as it appears when the infected tuber 
is dug from the ground. 
SCIENTIFIC NAME OF POWDERY SCAB. 
The scientific name of Spongospora has been changed even more 
often than its common name. This has probably been due (1) to the 
imperfect understanding of the life history of the fungus and (2) to 
the superficial resemblance of the spore balls of Spongospora to those 
of the smuts. Wallroth (1842&), who first collected Spongospora in 
1841, named it Erysibe subterranea. It was described and figured by 
Martius (1842) as Protomyces iuberum soluni. In 1844 Eabenhorst 
concluded it was not a species of Erysibe and described it in a ne# 
genus, Ehyzosporium solani. That Berkeley (1846) was familiar with 
the fungus and knew that it had been reported previously is apparent; 
from a short note in one of his articles on the potato murrain published 
in 1846. He mentions Martius's Protomyces and figures the spore 
balls, choosing, however, to call it Tubureinia scabies (Berkeley, 1850). 
The name of the organism was again changed in 1877 by Fischer von 
Waklheim, who placed it in another genus and called it Sorosporium 
scabies Berk, 
It was not until 1886, when Brunchorst found Spongospora on 
potatoes in Norway, that it was shifted into the correct group, namely 
the Myxomyeetes. Why Brunchorst failed to recognize or mention 
any of the earlier descriptions of Spongospora is not explained in his 
paper. That he was aw are of the fact that the same disease existed 
in Germany and perhaps in England is evident from the following 
sentence : 
Was das Yorkommen des Spongospora betriSt, 1st deraelbe bier in Norwegen 
ausserst verbreitet; wenn es sich bestatigen edllte, was ich. sicher giaube. dass der 
