280 
F. A. Wolf, 
become involved. Frequently entire leaves are destroyed. Under favo¬ 
rable conditions, pycnidia, the fruit bodies of the fungus, appear as small 
black dots on the dead leaf tissues. 
Later in the season the stems, fruit pedicels and fruit become 
diseased. Grayish areas dotted with numerous black pycnidia appear on 
the stems often completely girdling them and the fruit pedicels are gene¬ 
rally entirely involved. 
The decay of the fruit first manifests itself by the formation of a 
circular, brown area. This rapidly enlarges, depending upon atmospheric 
conditions, so that within a few days the entire fruit may be attacked 
and will fall from the plant. The fruit may maintain its conformation 
with but little shrinkage until the numerous pycnidia have been formed 
and the epidermis has been ruptured (s. fig. 1). This affords an avenue 
of entrance for various organisms which soon reduce the tissues to a wet 
pulp, so thoroughly disintegrated that the fruits readily fall to pieces. If 
in this rotted condition they remain undisturbed, they may dry up beco¬ 
ming black, shriveled mummies. During the season of 1912 this disease 
was unusually common and destructive in Alabama even in fields in 
which but little leaf spot was in evidence. 
The fungus: The pycnidia of the fungus producing this malady 
vary in size from 100 to 150 /u. The conidia are extruded from the 
pore or ostiolum in rope-like coils, being held together by a mucilaginous 
substance which readily dissolves in water. Water, by splashing upon 
healthy plant parts or trickling down upon them, serves, perhaps, as the 
chief agent in the dissemination of the disease. Because of the fact that 
this fungus was first observed on leaves and the conidia were hyaline 
and continuous, it was regarded as Phyllosticta , receiving the name 
P. hortorum Speg. (13). Later Halsted observed it in New Jersey 
as the cause of a damping off disease of Egg plants and named it 
Phoma Solani Hals. (14). In the autumn of 1903, Smith found, in 
Dele ware, an Egg plant fungus which he regarded at first as P. hor¬ 
torum. The uniseptate conidia later lead him to believe it was an Asco- 
chyta, and because of its close agreement with Ascochyta Lycopersici , of 
which there were no available authentic specimens for comparison, he 
decided it should properly be referred to A. Lycopersici. In order to 
verify the presence of a septum in the conidia he subsequently sent 
material to Halsted, Atkinson, Kellerman and others, all of whom 
regarded it as an Ascochyta. By inoculation experiments this Ascochyta 
proved to be parasitic on the Tomato also, establishing the fact that A. 
Lycopersici Brun, is identical with P. hortorum Speg. as reported in 
New Jersey. Since the latter name had priority, the name properly 
became A. hortorum (Speg.) C. 0. Smith. 
Quite frequently, it is to be noted, the conidia remain continuous 
or septation occurs only as they become old. Never have any septate 
conidia been found, however, by the writer, during the course of this 
work. Mummified fruits a year old and old agar cultures have been 
repeatedly examined. In addition to the typical conidia which are 0—10 
x 2,5—4 ju, there occurs, morever, a second type of spore, which is hyaline, 
continuous, frequently curved or hooked at one end and 14—17 x 2—2,5 / 1 . 
These spores may occur in the pycnidium together with the typical pycno- 
spores or alone in other pycnidia upon fruit pedicels, fruits and in cultures. 
