Marshall Ward. — On a lily-disease. 321 
of which I tied coloured worsted, the following facts were 
elicited as to the progress of the disease. 
A spot like that in Fig. 2 on July 10, had changed to the 
condition shown in Fig. 3 on the 16th, and the whole bud 
was black-brown and rotten (Fig. 4) on July 24. Another 
bud had three very minute spots on July 8, and on the 
19th the bud was beginning to open, the spots having 
altered little, if at all; on July 24, this bud opened, and its 
outer perianth-leaves showed several dirty buff spots ; other- 
wise the flower was a good one. And similarly with others. 
The normal course of events was that a spot, like that 
in Fig. 2, enlarged till it became like that in Fig. 3, usually 
coalescing with others on the same bud, until sooner or 
later the bud was entirely blackened and shrivelled as in 
Fig. 4. 
The same course was observed in other organs, especially in 
the leaves. In all cases it was noticed during the wet weather 
that a rich growth of a grey mould-like fungus made its ap- 
pearance on and around the buff-coloured spots, and increased 
as the bud decayed (Figs. 1, 3). To my surprise, this ‘mould’ 
turned out to be, not one of the Peronosporeae or any such 
form known to be a virulent parasite, but a fungus of the kind 
often called Botrytis or Polyactis — a form I had occasionally 
observed in previous seasons as a presumable saprophyte, and 
which is usually regarded as only a saprophyte. Of course 
the first question to be decided was whether or no the Botrytis 
had really any causal connection with the spots, or whether it 
merely followed some other form as a scavenger living on the 
products of the ravages caused by it. It is true the latter 
seemed the most probable explanation, but there were some 
facts against it in the present instance, and as the sequel shows 
the Botrytis turned out to be a parasite, at any rate in this 
particidar case. Before describing the methods and results 
which led to this conclusion, however, I will describe the 
fungus as found growing on and in the lily-buds, and the 
phenomena presented by it when cultivated in artificial and 
natural nutritive solutions. 
