52 
FETCH : 
hyaline hyphæ ; there is no black cord internally. I have 
seen instances in which the black cord passed down the centre 
of a dead twig, but in such the latter was probably hollow 
from the first. The mycelium, when it enters decaying 
tissues, becomes quite normal. 
It has been suggested that horse -hair blight is spread by 
birds which use the mycelium in the construction of their 
nests. If it can be shown that the mycelium is employed 
for that purpose, the suggestion might be feasible. In Ceylon 
I have only been able to examine a few nests from the neigh- 
bourhood of affected trees, and these did not contain any 
mycelium. This method of dispersion would not account 
for its widespread distribution on tea in certain districts, 
since tea bushes which are interfered with in the course of 
plucking every three weeks or so are seldom adopted by 
birds as nesting sites. Further, it would be necessary that the 
nest be built in a situation where it would be afterwards 
soaked by the rain. The naturalist of temperate climates 
will immediately picture the nests of the hedgerows, protected 
in the summer and exposed in the winter, but he must 
remember that most of the vegetation in the Tropics — and 
especially that on which horse-hair blight flourishes — is 
evergreen, and that in a country where rain falls throughout 
the year few birds would build a nest in an exposed position. 
A nest built in such a position that the rain does not then reach 
it is protected for an indefinitely long period, since there is no 
universal leaf faU. This appears to throw considerable doubt 
on the supposition that horse-hair blight is spread by birds. 
But it is easy to demonstrate that if the mycelium is 
transferred from one bush to another it will become attached, 
if suitable localities are selected. My first experiments 
attempted to transfer horse-hair blight from nutmeg to tea. 
The only tea bushes available were ten growing in a single 
line in an exposed situation and in full sunshine the whole day. 
The conditions were, therefore, unfavourable. A twig of 
nutmeg, about a foot long, bearing the mycelium was placed 
in the middle of one of the bushes in November, 1905, during 
the wet season. It did not make any new growth, and died 
in the ensuing dry season. In May, 1906, a similar twig was 
