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Symptoms. 
When the seedlings are attacked, brown spots appear on the 
leaves. The spots increase in size and frequently become confluent, 
so that nearly the whole area of the leaf may become brown. The 
remaining part of the leaf becomes yellow, and the leaf withers and 
dies. The death of the leaves is followed by the withering of the 
young part of the stem, and, finally, by the death of the seedling. 
Both young and old leaves may become spotted. 
Sometimes, the seedling throws up a new shoot from below. The 
actual fate of this shoot is unknown. 
The Fungus. 
Material of all stages of the disease has been forwarded to the 
Agricultural Department for examination. The tissues of the 
iiiesophyll of the leaves are overrun with hyaline, branched, septate 
hyphae 4 microns in width. On the upper surface of the leaves are 
produced black perithecia which are not visible to the naked eye- 
The perithecia are less abundant on the under surface of the leaves ; 
they are closely associated with the internal mycelium, and when 
viewed under a lens appear as small black dots; they bear asci with- 
out paraphyses, each ascus containing eight ascospores. 
The fungus belongs to the genus Laestadia, and in its characters 
is sufficiently distinct from any other species of Laestadia to be 
designated a new species. It has been named L. Palaquil , n. sp. 
Other species of the genus Laestadia which have been recorded in 
the East are: — L. Theae , Rac., described on tea in Java, which the 
new species resembles somewhat in the characters of perithecia and 
asci, but from which it differs markedly in the nature of the spots and 
mode of arrangement of the perithecia; L. Camille ae, Cooke, described 
on Camillea Then in Johore; L. Oxalidis, Sacc., on Oxalis corniculata in 
Ceylon; L, Pertusa , Sacc., on Dioscorea tomentosa in Ceylon; and 
L. Caesalpiniae Pat. on species of Caesalpinia in Java. 
The best known case of parasitism of the genus is that L. Bid- 
wellii on the Vine in the United States of America and in France ; this 
fungus which causes the “black rot” is the most dreaded fungus 
parasite on the Vine in the United States. 
Spread of the Disease. 
It is not improbable that the rapid spread of the disease is 
brought about by the presence of a pycnidial form of the nature of a 
Phoma. A small pycnidial form has appeared on the spots pre- 
viously to the development of the perithecia and has been identified 
as a Phoma ; and a careful examination of material is being made for 
the purpose of demonstrating the connexion between this and the 
ascigerous fungus. 
