614 Fhi set ton-Dyer.—Note on the Sugar-cane 
Melanconium from the West Indies, because I do not wish 
to introduce this Fungus in the living state into Java ( 1 . c., 
P . 598). 
From a practical point of view the only reproductive form 
of Trichosphaeria of importance is the Melanconium-stago. 
producing stylospores. These appear to be ubiquitous in the 
cane-fields of some of the West Indian Islands, and no 
attempt seems to be made to destroy canes infested with 
them. In Antigua Barber says (Kew Bulletin, 1894, p. 176), 
‘ the whole atmosphere is saturated with the spores.’ The 
other reproductive forms of the Fungus appear to be of 
secondary, at any rate merely of scientific interest. As 
Massee has pointed out (Kew Bulletin, 1894, p. 83): ‘The 
Melanconium-sX&'gt can reproduce itself continuously, without 
the intervention of any other form.’ It is ‘ the conidial form 
destined for the rapid reproduction and dissemination of the 
species. . . . The disease is caused by this phase of the 
Fungus.’ The fact is in no way remarkable. In Australia 
rust in wheat is propagated entirely by the reproduction of 
uredospores: the aecidial stage is unknown. The ‘ Leaf Disease J 
in Ceylon was continued and the cultivation of coffee prac¬ 
tically exterminated by the continual reproduction of the 
uredospores of Hemileia. 
Root Disease. 
About the same time as the e Rind Disease’ a second 
malady of the sugar-cane, the ‘ Root Disease,’ also attracted 
attention in Barbados. The following account is taken from 
the Kew Bulletin (1895, p. 83) : ‘ The canes appear to receive 
a check in their growth; the plant dwindles down, fresh 
basal shoots are formed to supply the place of the dying 
ones, but notwithstanding this it is ultimately found that 
growth has been arrested and no cane formed : and if the 
plant be dug up the roots are nearly all dead ; and those that 
are still living are dotted over by little red spots.’ 
The resemblance of the disease above described to the 
