182 Report or THE BoTAaNIsT OF THE 
with that form of stem-rot commonly known as dry rot or die 
back ;** but we have never before known Fusariwm to produce a 
genuine leaf-spot of carnations. Inoculation experiments may 
show that this fusarvwm is identical with the one causing carna- 
tion stem-rot. 
The plants were grown under conditions exceptionally favorable 
to the attack of fungi. They were so situated that direct sunlight 
never reached them. However, they were doing fairly well and 
were free from disease with the exception of the Fusarium leaf- 
spot and a moderate attack of rust. 
VI. CHAETOMIUM CONTORTUM ON BARLEY SEED- 
LINGS. 
In March, 1895, the writer found a new species of Chaetomiuwm 
on some lily bulbs in a greenhouse on Long Island. The fungus 
was sent to Dr. C. H. Peck, State Botanist, who named it Chae- 
tonium contortum.** For nearly four years after this nothing was 
heard of it; then it was again found in one of the Station green- 
houses. In December, 1898, some barley seedlings used in an 
experiment on plant nutrition began to languish without appar- 
ent cause. Upon making an examination of the diseased plants 
it was found that several perithecia of Chaetomium contortum were 
seated on the seed pericarps which still remained attached to the 
young plants. So far as known none of the species of Chaetomium 
are parasitic, but this case was so suspicious that it was decided 
to test the matter by experiment. Fifty seeds of barley were 
planted in each of two boxes in sterilized soil. One of the boxes 
wasinoculatedatthree points with pure cultures of the Chaetomium 
26 For an account of the Fusarium stem-rot of carnations, see: Sturgis, 
Wm. C. Preliminary Investigations on a Disease of Carnations. Twenty- 
First Ann. Rept. Conn. Agr. Exp. Sta., 1897: 175-181. Also, Stewart, F. C. 
The Stem-Rot Diseases of the Carnation. Bot. Gaz., 27: 129-130. 
27 Forty-Ninth Ann. Rept. N. Y. State Museum. Report of State Botanist, 
p. 24. 
