OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XIII, 1911. 75 



The third paper of the evening, by Mr. A. N. Caudell, 

 was entitled "A New Cactus-frequenting Orthopteron from 

 Texas." 



The last paper, "The Weevils of Victoria County, Texas," 

 by Messrs. W. D. Pierce and J. D. Mitchell, was read by 

 title. 1 



Short notes were presented by Messrs. Webb, Busck, and 

 Heidemann. 



AN EPIDEMIC OF FUNGOUS DISEASES AMONG SOLDIER 



BEETLES. 

 BY C. H. POPENOE AND E. G. SMYTH. 



Numerous adults of the soldier beetle (Chauliognathus 

 pennsylvanicus DeG.) attacked by a fungous disease were 

 observed September 25, 1909, on the blossoms of a Enpatorium 

 (probably perfoliatuni) at Diamond Springs, Virginia. The 

 fungus seemed to attack first the abdomen of the adult, dis- 

 tending it abnormally, and producing white, greenish, or 

 grayish rings of dense mycelial growth on the thin mem- 

 branous body-wall between the segments. Often six or more 

 beetles had attached themselves in their death struggle to a 

 single small head of flowers. A peculiar posture was assumed 

 by all, the body inclined upward at an angle of 45 degrees, 

 the wings raised as in flight, and the mandibles firmly fastened 

 into the calyx in a last grim death-grip. 



A number of diseased beetles were referred to Mrs. Flora 

 W. Patterson, Mycologist, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, for determination of the fungus. 

 Four genera of fungi were found present, namely, Clado- 

 spor/um, Macrosporium, Sporotn'chunt, and Fusariiun, "but 

 no one species in sufficient quantity to be considered the 

 probable first cause of the disease." 



There is little doubt that the fungus responsible for the 

 death of these beetles is identical with that described by Roland 

 Thaxter as Empusa {Rntomophthora) tampyridarum from 

 diseased adults of Ch. pennsylvanicus observed by him at 

 Collowhee, North Carolina. The species was new to him, 

 and was described without his having seen the resting spores. 



'Already published, Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., xm, 45, 1911. 

 2 Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. iv, No. 6, 1888. 



