372 Transactions. 



Art. XLII. — The Genus Cordyceps in New Zealand. 



By G. PI. Cunningham. 



"With Special Entomological Notes on the Hosts, by J. G. Myers. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 27th October, 1920 ; received by Editor, 

 31st December, 1920 ; issued separately, 8th August, 1921.] 



Plates LIX-LXII. 



Is the genus Cordyceps are included those fungi which produce the so-called 

 " vegetable caterpillars," ' vegetable wasps," &c, which are insects that 

 have been attacked by fungi and their tissues replaced by the vegetative 

 portion of the attacking fungus. 



In writings of about a century ago the various species of Cordyceps were 

 supposed to be insects changing into plants. To quote one example, an 

 author (25) in 1763, describing Cordyceps sobolifera Tul., which he called 

 the " vegetable fly," states, " In the month of May it buries itself in the 

 earth and begins to vegetate. By the latter end of July the tree arrives 

 at its full growth and resembles a coral branch, and is about three inches 

 high, and bears several little pods which, dropping off, become worms, and 

 from thence flies* like the English caterpillar." 



Naturallv, the earlier systematists had some difficulty in placing 

 such peculiar fungi. Species of this genus were first included under 

 Clavaria (12), a Basidiomycete ; they were then transferred to Sphaeria (19). 

 a genus which at that time covered all the genera now included in the 

 Pyrenomycetes ; thence to Cordyceps by Link (11) ; from this to Torrubia* 

 by Tulasue ; and, as this latter genus was not tenable, back to Cordyceps. 



For the most part, the species of Cordyceps grow on insects, but two — 

 C. capitata (Holmsk.) Link, and C. ophioglossoides (Ehr.) Link — grow on 

 subterranean fungi, Elaphomyces spp. C. ophioglossoides has recently been 

 recorded growing on a locust in Japan (15). 



Distribution. 



The genus Cordyceps is widely distributed, being found in Britain, 

 Europe, North and South America, China, Ceylon, Japan, Australia, and 

 New Zealand. Many species are extremely limited in their distribution, 

 while others again are more or less cosmopolitan : e.g., Cordyceps gracilis 

 Grev. has been recorded from Britain, Europe, North America, Algeria, 

 Australia, and, doubtfullv, from New Zealand (as Cordyceps entomorrhiza 

 (Dicks.) Link). 



Biology. 



Little is known of the life-history of Cordyceps. Tulasne (21) and 

 de Bary (1) have worked out the life-history of the common European 

 species, C. militaris (L.) Link. Their investigations tend to show that a 

 spore, on corning in contact with a host, germinates and produces a germ- 

 tube which penetrates the cuticle and body-wall. Inside the body-cavity 

 this germ-tube branches, forming hyphae, which penetrate to all parts of 

 the body. In the blood gemmae are produced: these are cells asexually 

 produced from the ends of hyphae. They are exceedingly small, and are 



* The genus Cordyceps of Link was by Tulasne (22) divided into two genera : 



(1) Torrubia, because of the presence of two spore-forms in the life-cycle; and 



(2) Cordylia, embracing all forms growing on subterranean fungi. 



