278 REPORT OF THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE 
nodal regions affected. The hardened drops of gum about the 
dry, greyish nodes with densely scattered pycnidia, and the oily- 
green, water-logged appearance of the stems below and above 
the nodes, was a repetition of its occurrence in 1907. Again, on 
some diseased vines the older affected regions (the parts having 
fruits of the fungus) were of rather dark color and had larger 
quantities of exuded gum. Numerous Diplodina pycnidia were 
present on all the affected nodal regions, and, on a few of the 
oldest infections, Mycospherella perithecia. A week after the 
disease was first noted, more than a dozen vines had become 
infected at several nodes each. ; 
No Phyllosticta on the leaves.—A thorough search was made 
for Chester’s Phyllosticta on the leaves of the infected vines 
but it was not found, though, at many of the diseased nodes, 
the leaves died about the time the water-logged condition first 
was observed. (Probably due to the red spider.) 
The disease more conspicuous than in 1907.—On July 20, at 
least one-third of the vines were either badly wilted or dead. 
The disease was more rapid and destructive than in 1907, and 
possibly more conspicuous because the red spider had injured 
and killed fewer leaves before the fungus appeared. The fuller 
descriptions of 1907 are referred to for details regarding the 
fructifications and appearance of the disease. 
Re-isolation of the fungus in 1908.—In order to obtain fresh, 
vigorous cultures for inoculation experiments, numerous tissue 
transfers from the interior of diseased, water-logged portions of 
muskmelon vines were made to tubes of potato-agar. Carefully 
picked perithecia and pycnidia® were crushed in separate drops 
of sterile water, and under sterile conditions, transferred to 
separate sets of 25 Van Tieghem cells. In about twenty hours, 
probably 95 per ct. of the spores, in both the ascosporic’ and 
pycnidiosporic cells, had germinated. Many transfers to tubes 
of potato-agar were made from both types of germinated spores. 
The resulting mycelial growths seemed identical in all tubes. 
An inoculation test on muskmelon vines proved both alike 
parasitic and followed by like pycnidia and perithecia. 
*It is a comparatively easy matter to distinguish between pyenidia and 
perithecia with a hand lens. 
