190 Salmon. — On Oi chop sis taurica (Ldv), 
parasitic species 1 . No formation of a haustorium from this appressorium was 
observed, nor was the germ-tube seen to enter a stoma ; as, however, these 
conidia had been sown on an injured leaf of a strange host-plant as regards 
the form of the fungus used, these negative results are of little importance. 
The identity of four recently published species with E. taurica may 
here be pointed out. 
In 1900 Magnus published ( 7 ), as a new species, Oidium Haplophylli , 
occurring on Rnta (. Haplophyllum ) Buxbautnii , in Palestine. Through the 
kindness of Prof. P. Magnus I have been able to examine the type specimens 
of this fungus, and have found the endophytic mycelium, the branched 
conidiophores emerging through the stomata of the leaf, and the large, 
curiously shaped conidia characteristic of E. taurica. 
In 1902 Scalia described ( 9 ), (10), as a new genus of the Hyphomycetes , 
a fungus occurring on Asclepias curassavica in Sicily. A careful and very 
interesting description of the fungus, to which the author gave the name of 
Oidiopsis sicula , was published ( 1 . c.), and I give below (in translation) the 
more important biological observations there recorded : ‘ The fungus forms 
on the upper surface of the leaves purple spots, which are more or less 
extended and always limited by the midrib and its branches. Correspond- 
ing to these spots, one observes on the lower surface a kind of white mealy 
tomentum, which at first sight makes one doubt whether one is not dealing 
with a Peronospora. The injury caused is entirely comparable to that 
brought about by species of Peronospora. The leaf dries up very quickly, 
either locally at the isolated spots, or the whole lamina withers if the spots 
become confluent, so as to cover its surface. The plants become rather 
easily defoliated, and flower badly. In gardens in Sicily the fungus lives 
all the year on A. curassavica ; in the summer months the spots are not 
observable on the upper surface of the leaf. Plants cultivated in damp and 
shady localities are injured most. The maximum of infection takes place 
during the winter, and chiefly if the season is mild. The fungus develops 
less actively during .the summer months ; unless there are prolonged rains, 
or even simply damp winds.’ 
At the same time Scalia published (10, p. 9) a fungus occurring on 
Ballot a rupestris , in Sicily, as a new species of Oidium , under the name 
of Oidium gigasporum. In the description the following characters are 
given : ‘ The fungus appears as coloured spots on the upper surface of 
the leaves, on the lower surface and corresponding to these spots one 
observes a white mealy pruinose layer, somewhat clearly visible among the 
hairs with which the leaf is abundantly provided. The mycelium is com- 
posed of creeping hyphae which are branched and hyaline, and form 
1 The figure to the right represents a conidium twenty-four hours after being sown ; that to the 
left, after forty-eight hours. ‘On the sixth day the germ-tube was considerably longer, and passing 
several stomata (which, however, were not functional) had developed two more ‘ appressoria.’ 
