16 
Mr. W. S. Campbell, of the Agricultural Department of New 
South Wales, kindly forwarded me, by request, specimens of 
oranges with this disease, not that I required specimens to he 
sent, sinco plonty were available nt the wharf, hut I wished to 
mako certain that the disease investigated was that known in 
Sydney by the name of “ Molanose.” Since this disease is still 
unknown to me in Victoria, it becomes important to guard against 
its introduction, as well as to be prepared for it, should it unfor¬ 
tunately appear, and the remarks of the Florida investigators are 
worth quoting in this connexion. a It appears to he spreading 
rapidly, however, and may ere long become one of the most 
common and most injurious diseases. Great care should betaken 
to prevent the introduction of this malady into California and 
other orange-growing countries where it is not yet known to 
occur.'’ And Dr. Cobh points the same moral in the paper 
referred to when ho says—“ There is no doubt that Meianose is 
doing much damage among the orchards around Thornleigh and 
Parramatta. Last season oranges spotted over with the disease 
were to he found in the Sydney market literally by the ton.'* In 
order to compare the so-called “ Meianose ” disease of Florida 
with that similarly named in Australia, Mr. Webber kindly sent 
mo a leaf of sweet orange badly affected. (Plate I., Fig. 2.) 
Sections of the leaf wore made at diseased spots, hut no distinct 
trace of a fungus was found. The cuticle is thickened and 
together with the epidermal cells is coloured dark brown. Then 
the sub-epidermal cells multiply at these spots, so that the leaf 
becomes excessively thickened there and the brown colouration 
extends to them. On teasing out portions and examining under 
the microscope, occasionally very slender colourless filaments of 
a fungus were seen. There is no definite fungus, however, such 
as is met with in Australian specimens, and for the present, at 
any rate, the two diseases cannot be regarded as identical. Mr. 
Webber writing to me, under date, 28th September, 1898, says— 
“ I have made an examination of the affected orange rind which 
accompanied your letter, and find that in all external characters 
the disease affecting it is very similar to the so-called Meianose 
from Florida, described in our Bulletin, No. 8. I made some 
sections of the rind and had no difficulty in finding the spores of 
the fungus to which you refer, and in this case there seems to be 
no doubt that the fungus is the cause of the trouble. 
“ Both Mr. S wingle and myself have studied the Florida disease 
at various seasons of the year, but thus far have been unable to 
find any spores in connexion with it. Several times I have found 
a colourless mycelium, which I supposed to be the cause of the 
trouble, hut so far I have not been able to secure cultures or find 
any indication of fructification. 
