Candelillo.—

In the Kew Report for 1877 (p. 29) reference is made to a disease of the coffee plant, which is known in Venezuela under this name, in the following terms:—"The young twigs and the under surface of the leaves are densely covered by a white felted mycelium, strings of which appear to pass from the former to the latter. Professor Ernst has accordingly proposed for it the name of Erysiphe scandens. The Rev. M. J. Berkeley remarks that it is similar in appearance to the 'leaf rot.' of Mysore, which is produced by a distinct fungus, Pellicularia Koleroga, Cooke (see Kew Report for 1876, p. 20). It is possible that the disease mentioned as having occurred in Jamaica may be identical with the Candelillo."

Professor Ernst has forwarded to Kew copious specimens of diseased coffee leaves affected with this fungus, and these have been care-fully examined by Dr. Cooke, who independently confirms Mr. Berkeley's suggestion as to its identity with the Koleroga. Professor Ernst referred the fungus in Venezuela to the genus Erysiphe with doubt. Dr. Cooke reports:—"I have carefully examined the leaves. I found in some cases, plentifully, the globose rough spores of the Pellicularia on short branches or pedicles, the latter remaining persistent, after the fall of the spores. The habit and character of the mould is entirely different from Erysiphe, which latter is always more or less pulverulent, and never, as far as I am aware, are the threads connected into a stratum by a gelatinous film. Neither is the action upon the leaf at all similar in its destructive character to the Koleroga. Although the stratum is thinner, and much less dense than in Mysore specimens, the character is the same, and so characteristic are the features which the threads present (an unusual occurrence in fungi of this kind; that I recognized under the microscope the identity of this with the Koleroga. From the character of the threads, apart from all other evidence, I should doubt its ultimate development into an Erysiphe."

The occurrence of a parasitic fungus of a very specialized type in coffee plantations, both in the Old and New World, is a somewhat remarkable circumstance. It is, however, possible that it has been introduced into Mysore from South America or the West Indies.