Npw YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 1381 
Under the microscope, the perithecia quite generally show a 
conspicuous light-colored, circular area at the center, as shown 
in Fig. 1, Plate X. This is the ostiolum. When the perithecia 
are crushed under a cover glass the asci come out clinging to- 
gether at their bases. They have the shape of a banana and in 
clusters resemble the banana clusters of six to twelve fruits each 
offered for sale by fruit venders. They cling together tenaciously. 
Mature spores may be found in abundance by May 1 and at 
Milton, N. Y., we have found them as early as April 8; but, in 
general, during the month of April the perithecia contain asci 
which are mostly without spores. According to our measure- > 
ments the asci are 60 to 70 » long by 10144 » wide, and the spores 
14 to 19 » long by 514 to 8% » wide. (For the superior cell.) 
Several unsuccessful attempts have been made to obtain pure 
cultures of Spherella by the dilution method with potato agar. 
Often there is associated with the Spherella, a species of Phoma 
having small, oblong, hyaline spores. (Plate X, Fig. 6.) The 
Phoma and Spherella are so frequently found together as to 
arouse the suspicion that the former may be an immature form 
of the latter. Pure cultures of this Phoma have been obtained 
and grown for several months on sterilized bean stems, raspberry 
canes and plugs of sugar beet, but no indication of Spherella 
perithecia appeared in any of the cultures. 
In 1901 the Station raspberry plantation, containing many vari- 
eties, was carefully watched to ascertain the date of the first 
appearance of the discolored areas on the new canes. They were 
first observed July 8 on the variety Pride of Geneva. In 1902 a 
plantation of the variety Coutant No. 1, at Marlboro, was watched 
for the same purpose. The discolorations were plentiful on July 
22, after two days of almost continuous rain. A few were ob- 
served some days earlier, but on the date mentioned there was 
a general outbreak. 
The writers suspect that the discolored areas discussed above 
and attributed to Spherella rubina are identical with those de- 
scribed in 1891 by Miss Detmers in Ohio Experiment Station 
Bulletin, Vol. IV, No. 6, p. 128. At any rate her descriptien 
answers very well for the trouble under discussion except for 
the leaf symptoms, which may have been due to other causes. 
