Jan. 1904 ] Note on the Genus Harpochytrium. 
3 
1901, in a moist silo, and at the same time others were put in a 
dry cellar, those in the latter being examined from time to time. 
The basal portions of the petioles of the diseased leaves were 
left attached to the crown of each beet. In a month or so the 
petioles had been partially or wholly rotted by the Phyllosticta 
and in two months the decay had penetrated the crowns of the 
beets producing the typical Phoma rot. Cultures carefully re¬ 
moved with a hot scalpel from the interior portions of the dis¬ 
eased tissues of the petioles and roots developed cultures of 
Phoma. 
In the study of cultures of the fungus from both leaves and 
roots, under certain conditions there were produced guttulated 
spores, but normally in either case the spores were free from either 
guttules or oil globules. This work indicates that in the case of the 
beet we have only one species of fungus which according to pri¬ 
ority of generic names will be placed in the genus Phoma, and 
that the various species of Phoma and Phyllostica described upon 
sugar beets, garden beets and mangels are identical. A synonymy 
of names will be published later. 
Mississippi Valley Laboratory, St. Louis, Mo. 
NOTE ON THE GENUS HARPOCHYTRIUM. 
GEO. F. ATKINSON. 
At the suggestion of the editor I have prepared this short 
note on the genus Harpochytrium for the Journal of Mycol¬ 
ogy — for the purpose of calling the attention of American stu¬ 
dents to these interesting Chytrids, to give brief characters of 
the genus, and the at present three species. I have also added a 
brief suggestion or two not brought out in my monographic 
treatment of the genus. 1 
In that paper I have described the development, formation 
of sporangia, formation and movement of zoospores, attachment 
to host, parasitism, relationship of forms, origin and distribution 
of species, and synonymy. 
The genus is one of the Chytridiales and is probably best 
located in the family Rhizidiaceae. The plant body is elongated, 
narrowly fusiform, usually tapering to a point at the free end, 
but often more or less rounded at the basal end. Some of the 
individuals are straight but more often they are curved, some¬ 
times strongly so. The plant is either sessile or attached to the 
host by a very short, slender stalk, or by a more or less elongated 
1 The Genus Harpochytrium in the United States, Ann. Mycol. 1: 
479-502, PI. 10 and text Figures A-F, November 1903. [Aus- 
gegeben am 10. December 1903.] 
