374 Howard. — On some Diseases of the * 
of Botany’ ’of December, 1900 ( 17 ). The Director of Kew 
( 16 ) contributed a paper on the sugar-cane disease of the 
West Indies, in which the literature of the subject is discussed, 
to the same number of this Journal. Since the publication 
of these papers I have continued the investigation of this 
fungus and the £ rind ’ disease of the sugar-cane, the results 
of which are given below. 
During the last three years my attention has also been 
directed to a malady of the sugar-cane in Barbados, known 
among the planters as ‘ root disease.’ Although it was found 
that this ‘ root disease ’ is only a general term covering several 
apparently distinct diseases of the cane, nevertheless by far 
the greatest portion which came under my notice proved to 
be identical in character and to constitute a definite disease. 
As the facts brought to light in the investigation of this 
malady have some bearing on the relations between the host 
and the parasite, and on the influence of the environment 
on both, an account of this disease may prove of general 
interest. 
II. The ‘Rind’ Disease of the Sugar-Cane. 
It will be convenient to deal first of all with Tricho - 
sphaeria Saccharic Massee, the parasitism of its conidial forms 
on the sugar-cane, and the part played by these in the c rind ’ 
disease. Afterwards another fungus connected with this 
disease will be considered. 
1. The Melanconium stage of Trichosphaeria Sacchari, 
Massee. 
A species of Melanconium has been recorded on dead and 
diseased canes in almost every country where the sugar-cane 
is cultivated. Thus in Engler and Prantl ( 18 ), M. Sacchari , 
Massee, is recorded on the sugar-cane in the Argentine. Ap- 
parently the same form is referred to by Massee ( 5 ) on the 
diseased sugar-canes forwarded to Kew from the West Indies 
in 1893. Massee (8) also records it as occurring on diseased 
