113 
that it could easily be shown to consist of three layers. The outer 
layer is very thin, colorless, and covered with fine warts : the middle 
layer is the thickest and is yellowish and smooth ; the inner layer ap¬ 
pears tolerably firm and is also yellowish and smooth. The uredospore 
is provided with from three to four equatorial germ pores, and the mem¬ 
brane is not equally thick everywhere, but is not especially thickened 
at the base of the spore. Treated in the same manner the epispore of 
the teleutospores showed the same three layers; the warts on the outer 
layer are somewhat larger and do not stand so close together as on the 
uredospores. The teleutospores are characterized by a long hyaline 
pedicel which breaks off at the base and remains in connection with 
the spore. The pedicel tapers below and is hollow in the lower portion. 
It is not perfectly smooth everywhere, but a small wart occurs here 
and there. Probably Peck called this species mirabilissima on account 
of the strikingly long pedicel, but it deserves this epithet in a still higher 
degree on account of another peculiarity that has been hitherto over¬ 
looked. One of the main characters of the genus Puccinia is, as we 
know, that each cell of the teleutospore is provided with but one g» rm 
pore which can have different positions, but in P. mirabilissima this is 
not the case, for here is each cell of the teleutospore with two opposite 
germ pores. These show plainly when the spores are treated as above 
mentioned. In this respect P. mirabilissima varies from all other Puc- 
cinias that.have been carefully observed, and even in this peculiarity I 
see a point of union between the genera Puccinia and Pliragmidium. It 
would be of interest to study the germination of this peculiar species, 
and it is to be hoped that some one of my North American colleagues, 
to whom living specimens are accessible, will undertake it. 
Quito, Ecuador. 
notes. 
A NEW PEAR DISEASE. 
Something over a year ago we received from one of our correspond¬ 
ents in southern Alabama a number of pear branches affected in a pecu¬ 
liar manner. In a letter sent with the specimens our correspondent 
described the disease as follows: 
The disease appears in the form of spots on the trunk of the tree, always at a dor¬ 
mant bud, also on the branches at the base of another branch or fruit spur. The spots 
when first noticed were about one-quarter of an inch in diameter, but soon increased 
to four or five times this size. They are nearly round and are surrounded with whit¬ 
ish uneven edges. When one-half an inch or more in diameter the affected portion 
becomes depressed and upon cutting into it the bark cambium and a considerable 
portion of the wood is seen to be brown and dead. In no case has the affection en¬ 
tirely eucireled a branch or trunk, but I have no doubt that if allowed to continue it 
will do so in a short time. I have never seen the disease before and fear it will prove 
troublesome in my orchard. 
Upon examination of the specimens it was found that the disease was 
due to a fungus known as Tlielephora pedicellate, Schw. We have this 
