130 . Report or tHe Boranist OF THD 
at the point of attack. In general, the matter may be decided at 
once by cutting into the cane with a knife. If the wood is dis- 
colored it is almost certain to be Coniothyrium. If the wood is 
not discolored it is most likely to be the pyrenomycete, although 
Coniothyriun will occasionally occur sparingly where there is 
Searcely any discoloration of the wood. To the unaided eye the 
Conothyrium pycnidia are practically indistinguishable from the 
perithecia of the pyrenomycete. 
The pyrenomycete under discussion appears to be Spherella 
rubina Pk. described by Peck in the Forty-eighth Annual Report 
of the New York State Museum, Part I, page 114. The descrip- 
tion reads as follows: 
“Spherella rubina n. sp. Perithecia minute, .007 to .009 in. 
broad, commonly gregarious, sometimes forming extended patches, 
submembraneous, obscurely papillate, pertuse, subglobose or 
depressed, at first covered by the epidermis, becoming superficial 
when the epidermis falls away, black; asci cylindrical, subsessile, 
.903 to .0035 in. long, .00045 to .0005 broad; spores uniseriate or 
subbiseriate, oblong, obtuse, uniseptate, generally constricted in 
the middle, hyaline, .0006 in. long, .00024 to .0008 broad, the 
upper cell often a little larger than the lower. 
“Stems of cultivated raspberries.. Menands. April and May. 
“This species is injurious to the plants it attacks. The affected 
plants either die from the disease or are so weakened by it that 
they are winter-killed wholly or in part. Generally the epidermis 
is whitened over the patches of the fungus, but sometimes brown 
spots indicate the presence and location of the fungus. The 
mycelium consists of brown septate filaments. From Didymella 
applanata, which this fungus resembles in some respects, it is 
separated by the absence of paraphyses.” 
With the writers it is an open question whether paraphyses are 
present or absent, and we must take exception to the statement 
that the Spherella is injurious to the canes on which it occurs. 
We have seen good crops of fruit produced in plantations in 
which almost every cane bore more or less of the Spherella the 
preceding spring. Its seeming injurious effect is due to the 
fact that it occurs most abundantly on red varieties which are 
especially liable to winter injury and to attack by cane blight. 
