Cunningham. — The Genus Cordyceps in New Zealand. 



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3. Cordyceps consumpta, n. sp. (Plate LX, fig. 1 ; and text-figs. 3, 4.) 



Isarial stage unknown. 



Stromata gregarious, two springing from head ; 2-3 cm. long ; fertile 

 portion cylindrical, curved, apex obtuse, black, 8-10 mm. long, 2-3 mm. 

 thick ; "rough with projecting necks of the perithecia ; sterile portion slender, 

 cylindrical, straight or curved, glabrous, black, 20 mm. long, 1-5 mm. thick. 



Perithecia completely immersed, flask-shaped, or more frequently very 

 irregular and distorted ; not crowded in the stroma, each perithecium being 

 separated by stromal hyphae ; necks protruding; 1,000-1,200 /x long, 

 200-500 fx wide ; necks short ; walls 30 /x thick. 



Asci hyaline, narrowly cylindrical, tapering slightly towards distal end, 

 markedly towards proximal end, not constricted below capitate apex ; 

 250 X 7 /x. 



Spores in parallel fascicles in asci, same thickness throughout, ends 

 bluntly pointed, 180-220 /x; secondary spores 4-5 X 1-1*5 /x, readily 

 separable in asci. 



[Drawn by E. H. Atkinson. 



Cordyceps consumpta. 



Fig. 3. — Transverse section through fertile portion of stroma. 



Fig. 4. — A. Perithecia (enlarged : note distortion). B. Capitate apex of ascus. C. Base 

 of ascus. D. Secondary spores, 4-5 X 15 /u. 



Host. — Porina sp. (see note) ; growing from head. 



Type Locality. — Rotorua, N.Z., growing from larva buried in soil 

 (A. Lush)! 



Distribution. — Known only from type locality. 



No. 230, Canterbury Museum collection. (Type.) 



In macroscopic characters this species resembles Cordyceps falcata Berk., 

 but differs in having the perithecia completely immersed ; in C. falcata 

 they are perfectly superficial. In microscopic characters there is a strong 

 resemblance to Cordyceps Craigii Lloyd ; but the difference in perithecia! 

 characters, together with the difference in all macroscopic characters, 

 indicates that this is a valid species. It bears a closer resemblance to 

 C. falcata and C. Craigii than to any other described species. 



This specimen, together with many others, was kindly forwarded for 

 examination by Mr. G. Archey, of the Canterbury Museum. It was collected 

 by Mr. A. Lush at Rotorua in June, 1920. Unfortunately, no particulars 

 as to exact locality were appended. 



Note on the Host (by J. G. Myers). — The larva infected, unless it be 

 immature, must in this case be that of one of the three smaller common 



