New York AGRICULTURAL. EXPERIMENT STATION. 26T 
ing bodies of the fungus, although the darker one had them 
standing much closer together. This test shows plainly that 
the fungus is able to penetrate the healthy uninjured surface 
of the muskmelon vine, and it also seems probable, from this 
experiment, that natural infection, occurring only at the nodes, 
is simply due to the fact that the spores were held at those 
points by drops of water sufficiently long for them to germinate 
and penetrate the tissue of the host, while the internodes 
afforded no such halting places for water. 
Inoculation of melon vines in the garden.—It seemed rather 
important that inoculations should be tried out in the open and 
at a place where the disease had not, so far, appeared. The 
Director of the Station, Dr. W. H. Jordan, kindly consented 
to sacrifice Some muskmelon vines growing in his garden, and 
on August 2 three vines were inoculated with mycelium from 
the same set of cultures as that used in the greenhouse on the 
same date; but the fungus was put in scalpel wounds instead 
of on uninjured surfaces as was done in the greenhouse in- 
oculations. Each vine was inoculated at two points and 
covered with grafting wax. ‘Three check inoculations were 
prepared; one on each of the vines. They were re-examined 
‘August 8 and it was found that only two of the inoculations 
had been effective. Upon removal of the grafting-wax cover- 
ings from the unaffected inoculated points, a large part of the 
cortical region of the covered portion was found to have been 
destroyed. The fungous hyphae were found present through- 
out the dry portions of the cortex, but the deeper lying green’ 
portions of the vine contained no hypnae which could be seen 
in freehand sections. 
Microscopic characters of the pycnidial form.—The fruiting 
bodies, upon microscopic examination, proved to be pyenidia 
containing two-celled hyaline spores of the Diplodina type. A 
section shows the pycnidia originating in the region just under 
the epidermis through which they break, finally seeming nearly 
superficial. The pycnidia are slightly depressed globular, with 
pore-like ostiola, and measure 100—165 w, See Plate X for 
