HOES E -HAIR BLIGHTS. 
47 
points would result in the formation of discs at those pointe, 
but I have not been successful in attempts to prove that by 
experiment. There is no relation between the position of the 
discs and the stomata of the leaf ; indeed, the cord adheres to 
either side of a leaf, even in cases, e.g., nutmeg and tea, Avhere 
there are no stomata on the upper surface. It appears to 
prefer leaves which have a glabrous surface. 
A careful examination of the trees tends to confirm the 
supposition that the mycelium is not parasitic. In the case of 
nutmeg, leaves bearing the cords of horse -hair blight do not 
die out of their natural order ; this is the more easily deter- 
mined, since dead leaves remain attached to the mycelium. 
It is seldom that all the leaves of a shoot are attacked, and any 
gaps with hanging leaves could not be overlooked. It seems 
certain that the dead leaves in the tangle (when they belong 
to the tree on which the fungus occurs) have died normally, 
and that the mycelium merely prevents their fall to the ground . 
The twigs which sometimes occur in the tangle present more 
difficulty, but an examination of the branch usually shows 
that they are not part of that particular one. In the case of 
nutmeg, an examination of unaffected trees brings out the fact 
that twigs of the latter are often broken off (by the wind ?) 
from the upper branches, and remain entangled in the denser 
lower ones ; they would be far more likely to be caught when 
the lower branches are overgrown by horse-hair blight. But 
that leaves and twigs blown by the wind or falling from higher 
trees are caught in the tangle is fully demonstrated. The 
largest leaf, indeed the only one recognizable, in the photo- 
graph of horse-hair blight on tea is that of Grevillea rohusta, 
which is grown as a wind-break in tea ; and the commonest 
“ twig ” in the tangle on nutmeg in the Peradeniya Gardens 
is the rachis of the inflorescence of the overhanging Derris 
dalbergioides. This rachis is only about 10 cm. long and is 
very slender, but it falls with the seed pods attached at an 
acute angle and thus hooks over the cords of the horse-hair 
blight. Leaves of the latter tree are also common in the 
tangle. 
Thus, both the absence of mycehum from the internal 
tissues and the effect of the fungus on the tree bear out the 
