264 Report oF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE 
Some of the first fruits were nearly ripe. The fungous disease 
was preceded by a rather severe attack of the red spider (Te- 
tranychus telarius) upon the foliage, to such an extent, in fact, 
as to kill many leaves. The spider was similarly troublesome 
in an adjoining greenhouse in which cucumbers (Cucumis sati- 
vus) were grown. The blotched and dying leaves of cucum- 
bers and melons first brought to the pathology laboratory by 
Mr. Wellington showed no traces of any fungous parasite. Yet 
the leaves continued turning yellow and dying in both green- 
houses. The leaf petioles of these leaves slowly turned yel- 
low and dried up, beginning at the dead leaf blade and gradu- 
-ally proceeding toward the vine axis from which the leaf grew. 
The spider was combatted by using ordinary hydrant water 
applied to the infested parts of the plants with a hose. It with- 
stood that treatment but comparatively few days. 
But it seems the trouble had only just begun. After the 
ravages of the spider had been gotten somewhat under control 
there appeared a marked difference between the recovering 
abilities of the plants in the cucumber and melon houses. The 
former soon showed fresh green foliage again, and, with the ex- 
ception of the dead leaves, looked normal; while the latter 
seemed not to recover very rapidly. In fact, in a few cases, the 
dying petioles seemed to have a somewhat water-logged appear- 
ance at their junction with the vine. On a few nodes of this 
kind an oily-green colored region was evident from which a few 
drops of resin-colored gum had exuded. However as other 
things required attention at this time no more thought or time 
was given the melons till about a week later, when a few inter- 
nodes, which had the nodal regions rather thickly specked with 
light-brown to dark-brown fruiting bodies of some fungus, were 
brought to the laboratory. On the internodes beyond the fruit- 
ing zones, the oily-green, water-logged character of the vine was 
very conspicuous; and this, with the resin-colored drops of gum 
which had exuded from them, seemed evidence that the condi- 
tion of some nodes, as noted before, was the beginning of this 
- disease. 3 
