45 
microscopic likeness to Puccinia malvacearum. Since P. malvacearum 
originated in Sontli America, I supposed I had found the fungus in its 
native place. Arriving at Quito, I found the same fungus everywhere 
on different species of Malva and on Hollyhocks, to which it was appar¬ 
ently very injurious. I soon learned from several gardeners that Holly¬ 
hocks did not thrive well in winter and often perished from a disease 
which manifested itself by large numbers of brown spots on the leaves 
and stems. I was also shown some of these diseased plants bearing 
the brown spots, in which I immediately recognized my Puccinia on 
Malva. 
It struck me, however, that the sori were in general distinctly larger 
than those of P. malvacearum , which I have observed in several places 
in Europe, and therefore I made a microscopic examination. To my 
astonishment I saw at the first glance that the fungus was not P. mal - 
vacearum , Mont, at all, but an entirely different Puccinia. It more 
resembled P. heterospora , B. & 0., and at first I thought I had this spe¬ 
cies before me, but on a closer comparison of the two fungi it soon 
became apparent that the fungus was also very clearly distinct from 
P. lieterospora , B. & 0., and must be looked upon as a new species. 
On account of a peculiarity of its spores, which will be alluded to 
directly, I have called the fungus Puccinia licterogenea. 
The fungus is found during the entire yearonilPdm nicceensis, M. 
crispa , M. Peruviana , and Althaea rosea,* and is especially plentiful in 
winter (January to May), but it could never be found on several Sida 
species which grew in the immediate neighborhoood of the diseased Mal- 
vas. It occurs on all the green parts of the plant, especially on the 
leaves; on these it is almost exclusively on the under side, while on the 
upper side it causes roundish, strongly concave spots, which are reddish 
in the center and yellowish at the edges. The sori are about a milli¬ 
metre in diameter and are crowded together, forming a large, strongly 
projecting, chestnut-brown cushion several millimetres in diameter; 
and on the thicker portions of the stems they are more than a centi¬ 
metre long and a half centimetre broad. Around the spore masses and 
between the single sori are visible shreds of the ruptured epidermis of 
the leaf. The sori contain only teleutospores, which under proper con¬ 
ditions germinate immediately after ripening; the fungus, therefore, 
belongs to the class Leptopuccinia . The teleutospores occur in two 
forms, one-celled, which is the preponderating kind, and two-celled. 
The one-celled spores (Figs. 10-13) are roundish ovate, elliptical, or 
elongated, 30-45/* long, and 20-30/* broad; the two-celled spores 
(Figs. 6-9) are elliptical or ovate above, rounded or tapering below, and 
little or not at all constricted in the middle. The membrane of the 
spore is yellowish, little or not at all thickened at the apex of the spore 
and perfectly smooth. The germ pore of the upper half of the spore 
* I have also seen the fungus in a botanical garden of this country very abundant 
on a Malva grown from European seed, but unfortunately not definitely determined. 
