38i 
Sugar-Cane in the West Indies. 
with to the greatest extent. The disease of cane-cuttings in 
the West Indies appeared to be almost identical with that 
of Java. 
It was first of all necessary to prove that the Thielaviopsis 
which attacks standing canes is identical in all respects with 
that found in diseased cuttings in the ground. The fungus 
from dead cuttings was cultivated from a single spore, and its 
development was found to be identical with that of the fungus 
in growing canes. Next the spores of the former fungus were 
placed on the cut ends of ioo cuttings before planting. Four 
weeks afterwards, all these cuttings were destroyed by the 
fungus, and on being split open were characterized by the 
odour of ethyl acetate and the development of numerous 
conidia of the fungus. A like number of uninfected cuttings 
were planted at the same time, all of which grew normally. 
Cross inoculation experiments were now made. The fungus 
from cuttings was found to infect the standing canes and that 
from the cane to destroy cuttings. Hence it was clear that 
only one fungus was being dealt with. 
A study of the means of protecting cane-cuttings from this 
fungus (21) showed that dipping the cuttings in Bordeaux 
mixture and then tarring the ends is an efficient method. 
Cuttings treated in this way developed readily even after 
being dipped in water containing the spores of the fungus. 
It was next desirable to repeat the experiments described 
in a former paper (17) on the parasitism of this fungus on the 
cane. Went (13) states that the fungus can behave as 
a wound parasite. According to Massee (5), the parasitism of 
the fungus would appear to be of a more pronounced character. 
It appeared necessary to find out whether the fungus can 
easily infect a cane at the old leaf-bases, and also to com- 
pare the infection of the cane in the parts rich in cane-sugar 
with those near the growing-point which are poor in this 
substance (12). The following experiments were therefore 
made : — 
i. On December 2 6 , four healthy canes were inoculated at 
wounds, both at an upper and a lower internode, with pure 
