DECADES OF FUNGI. 577 
nat. size. 3. Vertical section, do. Fig. 4. Ascus with sporidia 
highly magnified. 
200. Sphæria (Cordyceps) Gunnii, n. s. Entomogena; carnosa, 
capitulo cylindrico flavo sursum nigrescente ; stipite elongato albo. 
Gunn, No. 1800. (Tas. XXII.) 
On caterpillars of some Cossus or Hepialus, Franklin Village, 
near Lancaster. April 29, 1846, 
Growing from the neck of a caterpillar buried deeply in sandy 
ground. Stem with caterpillar five to eighteen inches long, rarely 
branched, flexuous, rugged below, cylindrical, white, solid, collect- 
ing particles of sand by means of a few downy threads. 
Head 2-3 inches long, 1— of an inch thick, perfectly cylindri- 
cal or lanceolate, obtuse or subacute, sometimes compressed, 
yellow below with the top of the stem, becoming black above. 
Perithecia elongated, ostiola scarcely projecting beyond the sur- 
face. Asci fusiform, flexuous ; inner membrane terminated by a 
bipartite globe, which sometimes gives off a third membrane in 
addition to the two which are always present. Sporidia short, 
truncate, cylindrical, forming long threads at length detached. 
The globe at the apex of the inner membrane is probably merely a 
modification of the process, obtuse above, and then contracted, which 
so often occurs in the same situation. Mr. Broome has observed 
the tip of the second membrane of the ascus to be occasionally 
quite distinct from the globular process, but pressed closely 
against it, exactly as is the case sometimes with pollen tubes which 
do not penetrate the embryo-sac. 
This fine species is in reality nearer to S. ophioglossoides than 
S. Robertsii, though agreeing with the latter so closely in habit. 
The sporidia are like those of the former species, and by no means 
of the latter. Were there any uniformity in the fructification, we 
might adopt the genus Hypocrea; but as the sporidia vary so 
extremely, being in S. citrina like those of 8. ophioglossoides, 
while in S. rufa, they form a row of sixteen, it seems impossible to 
separate it simply on account of a slight difference in consistence. 
The following account of the species is copied from Mr. Gunn’s 
notes. 
