Occasional Notes. 191 
Gardens, Trinidad, (Barbados Agricultural Reporter, 
June 7th, 1892), has stated his opinion that the original 
cause of the disease (of the sugar cane) is a microscopic 
fungus ; and though this is both startling and suggestive in 
relation to the theory of ferments and the part which bacil- 
lary and other organisms play in so many, and till recently, 
little known fields of disease ; yet it must be stated that no 
evidence on the presence and action of the fungus seems 
to have been produced, though the simple mounting of a 
piece of the diseased cane under consideration ought 
to have at least shown conclusively the presence of 
such growths. We, however, eagerly await the pub- 
lication of the evidence on which Mr. HART bases his 
opinion. 
More and more attention is being given to economic 
entomology throughout the world ; and the prosecution 
of researches in the West Indies, the more especially on 
our staple plant, cannot fail to be productive of a great 
deal of information that will be of direct practical value. 
