402 Dastur. — Choanephora cucurbitarum ) (B. and Rav.) 
spores are more or less globular, with a thick, smooth, and brown epispore. 
They measure 56-88 /x. 
Three species of Choanephora have so far been known to be parasitic. 
Of these' £1 Simsoni , Cunningham, 1 on Ipomoea rubro-coerulea and C. infundi- 
bulifera , (Curr.) Cunningham, 2 on Hibiscus spp, and Zinnia spp. (synony- 
mous with C. Cunninghamiana , Curr.), are Indian species, while C. cucurbi- 
tarum , (B. and Rav.) Thaxt., 3 which is the same as C. Americana, on 
Cucurbita spp., is American. The Choanephora under study is distinct 
from its Indian allies. Not only in the smaller measurements of the sexual 
and asexual fructifications does C. infundibulifera disagree with the chilli 
fungus, but there is another very characteristic difference. In the Choane- 
phora on Zinnia the persistent portion of the capitella after the ripe conidia 
have become detached appear as a series of pedicillate funnels, from which 
the specific name, infundibulifera , is derived. This characteristic is wanting 
in the chilli fungus. Again, the sporangial wall of the former is conspicu- 
ously tuberculated, while that of the latter is smooth. C. Simsoni has 
smaller spores, conidia, and zygospores, but the most important difference is 
that its capitella are abruptly truncate, while those of the species here dealt 
with are dilated and globular. 
The Choanephora on chilli, however, resembles very closely the 
American species, C. cucurbitarum on Cucurbita spp. These two forms 
not only agree in their various spore measurements except those of the 
sporangiophores — the Cucurbit Choanephora having slightly bigger spor- 
angiospores (18-30 x 10-15 f ) — but also in other characteristics. The 
capitella of both are rounded, the conidia have hyaline appendages at the 
base (these appendages are absent in the two Indian species), both have the 
same peculiarity in the development of the sexual spores, viz. that they are 
formed in cultures only when the conidia for making these cultures are 
taken direct from the host plant. 
For these reasons the chilli parasite has been identified as C. cucurbi- 
tarum , (B. and Rav.) Thaxter. 
Summary. 
A new disease of chillies caused by C. cucurbitarum , (B. and Rav.) 
Thaxter, is described. 
It produces a wet rot and drooping of the infected tender parts and 
a dying back of the branches. 
1 Cunningham, D. D. : A New and Parasitic Species of Choanephora. Ann. Bot. Gard., 
Calcutta, India, 1895, p. 169. 
2 Ibid. : On the Occurrence of Conidial Fructification in the Mucorini, illustrated by 
Choanephora K Trans. Linn. Soc., Ser. 2, Bot. i, 1879, PP* 409-22. 
8 Thaxter, R. : loc. cit., p. 102. 
