76 



GUIDE TO THE MODELS OF FUNGI. 



SUB-CLASS II.—PYRENOMYCETES. 



In the Pyrenomycetes the asci are borne in flask-shaped bodies, 

 perithccia, of carbonaceous or membranaceous consistency, sometimes 

 confluent with the stroma, with an opening at the apex through 

 which the spores escape. 



GENUS XLVIII.—CORDYCEPS Fr. 



Stroma erect, fleshy, clavate or capitate ; perithecia immersed ; 

 spores linear, multi-septate, separating at the septa. There are 



seven British species, two of 

 which are represented by 

 models. 



200. Cordyceps militaris Fr. 

 — At first sub-caespitose, white, 

 and mealy ; then club-shaped 

 and crimson, with the head 

 minutely tuberculose and the 

 stalk equal. 



This plant grows upon the 

 pupae of moths in the ground. 



500 



X-200 



Fig. 84. — Corilyceps militaris Fr., with branch- 

 inj; coniaial state (Isaria farinosa Fr.). 

 (Natural size.) Tubercles of stroma x 20. 

 Ascus X 200. Portion of septate spore 

 X 500. 



201. Cordyceps capitata 

 Fr. — Head ovato-globose, yel- 

 lowish-brown, red-brown, or 

 black; the stalk usually lemon-yellow, at length becoming blackish. 



Far less common than the last; it is much larger, and grows 

 parasitical ly on Elaplwtnyces gratndntus ¥i\ 



An allied species, Cordyceps sinensis, is sold in the markets of 

 China as food. Caterpillars with the Cordyceps attached are tied 

 with silk threads in small bundles ; each bundle contains about 

 eight or ten affected caterpillars, whose bodies are completely 

 permeated by the mycelium of the fungus. 



The best known of the larger species, C. Robcrtsii, grows on the 

 larvae of Hepialus virescens in New Zealand, and is popularly called 

 the " vegetable caterpillar." When fully grown, this is six or eight 

 inches high ; it grows from the back of the second joint from the 

 head of the victim, generally singly, but sometimes two from 

 the same caterpillar. 



An Australian species, still more remarkable, C. Taylori, 

 grows on a large caterpillar, and attains a height of eight inches, 

 being repeatedly branched like the antler of a deer ; it is ashy- 

 black in colour, and from three to six grow in a cluster. 



