While at the Biological Institute at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, I came upon a small area of Rubus villosus var. humifu-sus badly attacked by Peronospora Rubi, Rabenh. This mildew is a member of a most destructive genus - the genus that includes such enemies as the grape mildew, onion mildew, lettuce mildew, spinach mildew and several others, to say nothing about the potato rot, which was for a long time classified among the peronosporas. This is the first time, as far as I can determine, that this mildew has been found upon the rubus genus in this country, save the instance when the writer found the same fungus upon the black caps in a fruit garden. In Europe, where the species was first discovered, it has been taken upon two species of rubus, but different from either of the two above mentioned.

The fact of the presence of this mildew in this country is significant. It is well known that the members of the genus rubus are closely related, if we may judge by the way fungi behave, and this is one of the best means of getting a clue of kinship. Take, for example, the raspberry anthracnose, that has been quite destructive in some localities. It is common to the blackberry and black cap as well as the raspberry, and the same is true of various other fungi upon the genus. This being the fact, it is natural to expect that the mildew in question will spread to other members of the genus, and it is very likely will become a plague to the grower of small fruits. The closely allied species common to our vineyards was unknown to Europe until within the past few years, but having once found an entrance there, it has spread with great rapidity.

It seems to me that there might well be a fund in every state that could be drawn on for the destruction of such pests, when they are in small numbers and only in one place perhaps. The legislature of New Jersey saw the force of this, and at its last session passed a law setting apart a thousand dollars, chat can be used each year for the suppression of fungous diseases. New York might well spend a few dollars in the destruction of a worthless blackberry that may otherwise prove a propagating bed for a mildew, that in time can play havoc in the fruit gardens of the whole country. - Byron D. Halsted, Rutgers College.