Essed . — The Panama Disease. IT 
359 
A very small percentage of carbohydrate was detected by heating i grm. 
of dried mycelium with 25 % H 2 S0 4 for about two hours. The liquid was 
allowed to cool and filtered ; the filtrate neutralized with KOH and the 
neutral solution treated with Fehling’s solution, when a small amount of 
reducing carbohydrate was clearly demonstrated (the validity of the 
Fehling’s solution was tested before). More elaborate investigation might 
throw more light on this matter. One thing may be now said : repeating 
this experiment several times, I was not always able to find carbohydrate 
on the one hand, or pectine on the other, from which I provisionally 
conclude that the amount of these constituents is rather varying. 
Inocidation experiments. These experiments were carried out as 
follows : — 
Two small beds in the kitchen garden of the Military Hospital were 
prepared by producing a fine tilth, digging the requisite number of 
plant-holes, and spraying the soil with a 20 % solution of formalin three 
times on three successive days. They were then left exposed to the sun 
for three days, when no vapours of formalin could be any longer detected. 
The suckers were all carefully examined as to their being healthy and the 
adhering soil removed from the spots to be inoculated. From each sucker 
a somewhat pyramidal fragment of the rhizome was cut out with the aid of 
a sharp knife, which was strongly heated every time before a stab was made ; 
from this fragment the under part was cut off, so that the remaining upper 
part could be used as a lid on the opening produced. The inoculation 
liquid, previously prepared by shaking a portion of a pure culture in a small 
tube of sterilized water, was poured out on a bit of compressed cotton- 
wool, slightly dimpled in the middle to prevent the overflow of the fluid, 
and the cotton-wool pushed down the hollow with the inoculated surface 
downwards. At last the lid was tightly fitted in its place by the aid of 
another bit of cotton-wool spread over the opening. So, as was mentioned 
in my first paper, four suckers were inoculated with the fungus, four with 
fungus + Bacteria, four with Bacteria, whereas four were not inoculated and 
used as a check on the experiment. For convenience’ sake I shall indicate 
the four groups by / = fungus, fb = fungus + Bacteria, b = Bacteria, and 
c — check. Two months after the inoculation I noticed on the leaves of one 
of f, tiny dark brown bodies, which, examined under the microscope, proved 
to be the mycocecidia described above. In the different sections made, 
hyphae were found, which at once disclosed their identity with the Ustila- 
ginoidella musaeperda. All the outer leaf-sheaths of f and fb were 
ruptured longitudinally, but all the plants were still vigorous and healthy 
looking, and remained so until the middle of the fourth month, when the 
leaves of f and fb began to show signs of discoloration and marginal 
withering. A week after that, I found the outer leaves fallen back against 
the stems and the withering rapidly progressing and involving some of the 
B b 2 
