(( 
TULIP-ROOT. 
45 
many thanks his prompt and courteous, as well as most efficient, 
attention to my request. 
Dr. de Man was good enough to examine some specimens of 
diseased Oat-plants which I forwarded to him, and, besides a few 
living AngiiillulidcB of the genera Dorylawius, Cephalohus, and Rhabditis, 
which he considered to be living on the outer surface of the plant, 
“probably in small earth-particles adhering to it,” he likewise found 
Tylenclms present in the plant, but nearly all dead. As all examined 
were young and not yet developed, absolute certainty could not 
be attained as to the precise species, but it was presumable that 
they were of the Tylenchus devastatrioc, Kuhn, which is one of the 
synonyms of the Anguillula dipsaci, afterwards the A. devastatrix of 
Kuhn, of which the attack is shown in the following extracts from 
Dr. Kuhn’s treatise to be like that we are now suffering from in 
Britain. 
In this matter it is of great importance to ascertain the kind of 
Eelworm which is present relatively to the extraordinary powers of 
prolonged life possessed by some of the divisions of the great family 
of AnguillididcB; therefore, to know that our kind is a Tylenchus is of 
much use. 
In the following extracts from Dr. Kuhn’s treatise it will be seen 
how nearly the German attack to Eye and Oats corresponds with ours, 
and, though it has been mainly reported from observations on Eye, 
that the treatment is equally applicable to either crop. 
The following notes and extracts up to p. 47 are extracted from Dr. 
Kuhn’s pamphlet of observations on ‘ The Worm-sickness of Eye ’:— 
This disease, which is known as “ Stem-sickness,” or shortly as 
“ Stem,” “ Knob,” or “ Eoot,” agrees very exactly in its effects in the 
most marked form with our “ Tulip-root.” The experiments and 
observations mostly refer to Eye, but Dr. Kuhn has found by minute 
examination that it is one special kind of Eelworm (formerly observed 
in Teasels) which causes the disease he reports on in Eye and Oats, 
and likewise attacks Clover, Buckwheat, and the Fuller’s Teasel. For 
this reason he changed the name from Anguilhda dipsaci, or “ Teasel 
Eelworm,” which had ceased to be appropriate to A. devastatrix, as 
showing its widespread injuriousness. 
This special kind has been found by Dr. Kuhn to regain vitality if 
moistened with water even after two years laying up dry. But further, 
which is enormously important to the present subject, he states that 
“ in damp earth they preserve their power of living still longer, even if 
their food-plants should perish. This circumstance is to be attended 
to in combating the Eelworm disease.”—J. K. 
