596 Went.— Notes on Sugar-cane Diseases. 
Java, notwithstanding this outward resemblance, is another 
species than the West Indian Melanconium . I think it 
however to be much more probable that both fungi belong to 
the same species, the one being the saprophytic, the other the 
wound-parasitic form, — somewhat as in the case of Colleto- 
trichum falcatum. It is not quite certain, therefore, that 
I experimented with the same Melanconium as did Massee, 
but this is no reason why I should not give the results of my 
experiments. 
I commenced by introducing in the usual way one Melan- 
conium- stylospore into a hanging-drop of a nutrient solution ; 
but I found that this method could not be followed, as most 
of the stylospores did not germinate, so that an enormous 
number of hanging-drops would have been necessary in order 
to get one mycelium. So I introduced a number of stylo- 
spores — about ten — into one hanging-drop, and in this manner 
I could observe germination in about 5°/ o of the stylospores. 
But here another difficulty arose. Since these Melanconium- 
pycnids are only to be found on dead canes, spores of many 
other saprophytes are introduced into the hanging-drops at 
the same time. Spores of other Fungi could be eliminated, 
but Bacteria were a great nuisance, though the nutrient 
solution was made slightly acid. They were in so far a 
nuisance as they increased in number very fast and stopped 
the development of the young Melanconium- mycelia. This 
was the reason why I did not get ripe conidia in these hanging- 
drops, and only succeeded in obtaining them after washing 
the mycelium several times in a sterilized nutrient solution 
and then putting it on the surface of agar-agar (with nutrient 
substances). In this manner I was at last successful in getting 
pure cultures, without any Bacteria. 
Fig. 23 shows the germination of two Melanconium- stylo- 
spores ; sometimes two germ-tubes are developed, sometimes 
one, as in Fig. 23. Figs. 24 and 25 show a part of a mycelium 
developed from the Melanconium- stylospore c in different stages 
of development. This mycelium is beginning to form conidia 
but did not get beyond the stage of Fig. 25 (stopped by the 
