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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

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through, we visited the Bath estate, near Roseau. This estate comprised both hill- side and level cultivations, and demonstrated clearly the effect of heavy dews on the withertip disease.

On Monday, the 25th, I spent the morning at the Botanic Gardens examining the lemon trees which it is hoped will prove resistant to wither- tip, and the spraying apparatus available. In the afternoon, at the request of the Governor, who was visiting the Island, I addressed a meeting at the Court House.

From my own personal point of view, the experience I have gained in visiting these tropical countries will be invaluable to me in my work. I saw a very large number of tropical crops as they are grown in the field and a great many of the diseases which attack them. I also met a number of mycologists with whom we correspond and became acquainted with the conditions under which they work. From the point of view of the Bureau, the fact that it sent a representative to the Conference was, I think, deeply appreciated, and whilst the visit to Dominica proved less fruitful than I had hoped, yet the first-hand knowledge gained of the conditions will, I trust, be of some use to the Bureau and ultimately to Dominica itself.

In conclusion, I would like to express my thanks to the Managing Committee, who made this trip possible for me, and to record my sincere appreciation of the many kindnesses I received and of the trouble taken to render my visit both pleasant and profitable.

S. P. WILTSHIRE.

24592

No. 73.

HALF-YEARLY REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE IMPERIAL BUREAU OF MYCOLOGY FOR THE PERIOD ENDING 31ST MARCH, 1924.

Finance. The financial position of the Bureau is still satisfactory. It will be seen from Appendix III that the Reserve Fund amounted on the 31st of March last to £6,017 188, 5d. This figure was somewhat lower than anticipated owing to certain unforeseen expenditure and to the discontinuance of contributions from the Governments of Egypt and Trinidad. It is hoped to arrange with the Government of Egypt for payment in proportion to the work actually done for them by the Bureau, and a small sum has been provided on this account in the Estimate of Revenne in Appendix IV. The Trinidad Government have decided to resume their contribution in respect of the current financial year.

In Appendix I the total receipts and expenditure of the Bureau since its foundation are shown in the form of a balance sheet, calculated to 31st March last. Appendix II gives the actual receipts and expenditure during the past financial year. As explained in previous reports, we have, for purposes of accounting, only shown under" receipts" the amounts actually paid in between 1st April, 1923, and 31st March, 1924, and not our guaranteed income for the year, which was £4,975. The payments from the contributing governments are made somewhat irregularly, but a reference to the amount promised is always made in Appendix IV of the accounts attached to the Bureau reports. The expenditure during the exceeded the estimate by £268, mostly accounted for by the cost of the overseas tours referred to below, as these were not allowed for in estimating.

year

In Appendix III the financial position of the Bureau on 31st March last is shown, from which it will be seen that the balence of the Bureau fund is somewhat more than a year's cost of maintenance. As we are working on grants annually voted and there is always some risk of contributions being temporarily withheld owing to financial stringency, this reserve fund is very necessary. In the estimates for the current year (shown in Appendix IV) it is apparent that we have now very little surplus income over expenditure, and any unforeseen item, such as those that were met last year, might easily turn our surplus into a deficit on the year's working.

year.

year.

Staff. No changes have to be recorded under this head during the past half-

Publications.—The Review was published punctually every month during the

Volume II was completed, but for the index, by December, 1923, and con- tained 592 pages as against 456 in Volume I. The printer's bill for 1,000 copies

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of the 12 numbers was £527 98. 6d., or about 178. 10d. per page. As this included printing and stitching covers for the 12 monthly parts and printing the monthly tables of contents, it may be considered a very reasonable figure. The index for Volume I was published in April, 1923, and cost £77 28. 8d. to print. The index for Volume II will be issued shortly, and will naturally be larger than the last. Its preparation during the past year was entrusted to an outside indexer, who was paid £3 for each monthly part: the final preparation of the cards for typing had to be done by the Editor, and involved very heavy work, which was not completed until April.

The size of the Review had to be again increased, this time from 48 to 64 pages, in December last, and except for February the latter figure has been maintained in Volume III up to date. It may be possible to reduce it later on, but it seems likely that Volume III will exceed 700

pages. We are abstracting roughly 100 papers per month now as against about 55 this time last year, partly because there is an actual increase in output, partly because we are examining more publications. The first two volumes of the Review contained abstracts from some 450 separate Journals and Reports, many of which appear weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or at longer intervals, so that the number of separate parts dealt with was much larger.

The number of subscribers at the end of the year was just under 200, an increase of about 40 during the year. The total distribution is over 600, the balance being due to the free distribution to contributing Governments (278) and in exchange for other journals (130).

General work of the Bureau.-One result of the overseas tours of the Director and Mr. Wiltshire has been a considerable increase in the volume of enquiries and the general correspondence at the Bureau. The facilities for borrowing pamphlets from the Bureau library have been more freely made use of, and we get many requests for literature references.

No progress has been made in working off arrears of specimens sent in for determination, but, on the contrary, the accumulation has increased. Our staff is inadequate to deal with the systematic side of the work, and outside specialists are scarce and overworked, though we get invaluable help from other institutions. Mr. Mason does what he can, and his progress as a systematist has been all that can be desired, but he has far too much to do and is working unreasonably long hours. As stated in the last half-yearly report, this is the first side of the Bureau to require strengthening, and definite steps in that direction will, it is hoped, be taken when our programme for the next five years is under consideration.

At

Amongst the more interesting specimens received were cultures of a Verticillium attacking the sugar maple in Canada, which was determined as V. dahlia. about the same time enquiries were received from Ontario regarding a raspberry disease which seems to be due either to V. dahlia or to V. albo-atrum, if indeed these two species are really distinct. Authentic cultures of V. dahlia were sent to the mycologists concerned, and they were put in touch with one another with a view to making comparative experiments with the two diseases.

The origin of the blister rust of white pines, Cronartium ribicola, a fungus that has caused enormous losses in Europe and the United States since its introduc- tion, is probably Asiatic. Some evidence having been obtained by an American worker that it might be endemic in the Himalayas, efforts have been in progress through the Bureau to obtain specimens from that area. What appeared to be this fungus was received from the north-western Himalayas through the Indian Forest Department some months ago, and has been referred to American specialists, whose report has not yet been received.

An obscure disease of groundnut, termed "rosette," was received from South Africa and found to be identical with one described in Tanganyika and the Dutch East Indies some years ago. More recently specimens of the same disease were received from Sierra Leone. No parasite has been found, and the suggestion has been made by the Bureau that the disease is probably one of the so-called "virus" grown, allied to potato leaf roll. This is being tested in South Africa.

The blue mould disease of tobacco has been reported only from Australia, and the cause was identified years ago at Kew as Peronospora hyoscyami. This identifi- cation having been recently questioned, specimens were sent to us from Victoria for verification. Part of the material was submitted to a Swiss mvcologist who has recently written a monograph on Peronospora (in which incidentally he doubted the identity of this fungus. of which he had not seen specimens) and part to the Argentine, where an allied fungus attacks tobacco. The Swiss report now confirms

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