Howard .— On Trichosphaeria Sacchari , Mas see. 625 
ment of macroconidia. These two series of experiments 
confirm Massee’s observation that the micro- and macro- 
conidial phases of the Fungus can be obtained from the 
Melanconium condition. 
An attempt was now made to obtain a similar result in 
sterilized cane-slab cultures. Two series of experiments 
were made, using cane-slabs in the interior of which cavities 
had been made by splitting the slabs and cutting out a portion 
of the inside. The two halves were bound up with cotton 
which had been boiled with water to remove any mineral 
impurities. In some of these slabs a groove was cut in one 
of the halves to form a connexion between the cavity and 
the air. After sterilization, Melanconium- spores from a pure 
culture were sown on the ends of the slabs. In seven days 
the cane pieces were covered with small Melanconium- stromata, 
and similar structures were found lining those cavities which 
communicated with the air by means of a groove. In the 
cavities which had no connexion with the air no spore- 
formation was noted, although the tissues forming the walls 
of the cavity were filled with mycelium. In both series no 
macro - or microconidia were observed. The day temperature 
varied from 26° C. to 31 0 C. during the development of these 
cultures. In these and other Melanconium- cultures on steri¬ 
lized cane-slabs the red colouration seen in the vascular 
bundles of living canes attacked by the Rind Fungus was 
not observed. 
Inoculation experiments were performed on healthy canes 
with Melanconium-s pores obtained from a pure culture. The 
spores were placed on the fresh wounds produced by tearing 
off leaves near the upper part of the cane, and in the small 
perforations made with a sterilized needle on the internodes 
of a cane where the rind had been washed and sterilized with 
an alcoholic solution of corrosive sublimate. After infection 
the wounds were covered with sterilized vaseline. Other 
canes were treated in an exactly similar manner, except 
that no spores were sown on the wounds, to serve as a control. 
In five days the tissues round the points of infection were 
T t 2 
