OF CERTAIN TERMITE XESTS. 243 



can be matched by its frequent occurrence on footpaths 

 at Peradeniya: the description differs in some particulars, 

 but the discrepancies are not greater than those in the des- 

 cription of X. Gardneri, and there seems no doubt that it is 

 the same species. On the same plate is figured X . flagelli- 

 formis, Currey : this is a conidial form only, and, except in the 

 brown colour, it exactly represents the conidial stage of 

 X. Gardneri. Cooke (Sacc, vol. 9., pp. 538, 539) says that 

 X. nigripes, Klotzsch, is the same as X. escharoidea, Berk., 

 X. piperiformis , Berk., X. mutabilis, Currey, and X. flagelli- 

 formis, Currey. He does not include X. Gardneri with these, 

 which he calls " simplices," but places it amongst the "fur- 

 cates," and says that its spores are 30 x 2 p. But X. 

 Gardneri, like X. mutabilis, is only rarely, forked, and its 

 spores are 4-5 x 3 /t : apparently Cooke measured the ascus 

 which is 30 x 3 p. Cooke's determination was based on an 

 examination of the specimens at Kew, and accepting this as 

 correct, Xylaria Gardneri must evidently be regarded as a 

 synonym of X. nigripes. If allowance is made for the fact 

 that the six descriptions were drawn up from dried specimens, 

 it will be seen that they agf ee as well as could be expected. X. 

 Gardneri is only " longitudinaliter rugoso-sulcato " when dry, 

 and though it is always black within it is not black 

 externally except when covered with extruded spores : except 

 in these two points it agrees with the description of X. 

 nigripes. X. Gardneri, var. minor, grows with, and often on 

 the same base as, the longer form, and cannot therefore be 

 separated as a variety. 



The use of the Fungi. 



The relation of the fungi to the termites has not yet been 

 the subject of exact inquiry, at least in the case of Tropical 

 species. It is however generally assumed that the conidial 

 spheres on the comb are used for food. 



Holtermann (7) rightly points out that a systematic feeding 

 or starving of the insects does not lead to a correct conclusion . 



