Weiss and West — Fungous Insects and Their Hosts. 3 



bark and wood-infesting fungi of the spruce. It therefore 

 serves as good external evidence that the dead trees on which 

 it is found were killed by the beetle. It will, however, grow 

 from the burrows made by other insects in the bark or, as ob- 

 served in one instance, from the burrows of wood-mining 

 beetles (Xyloterus bivittatus Kirby) in wood from which the 

 bark had been removed." 



Again Ruggles 1 finds that a relationship appears to exist be- 

 tween Agrilus bilineatus and the shoestring fungus Armillaria 

 mellea in connection with the death of oak. Whether the 

 fungus is necessarily present first acting as a primary cause of 

 death to the tree or whether the combination causes death 

 is, according to Ruggles, a question for further investigation. 

 Another interesting paper, "The Inhabitants of a Fungus," 2 

 by Henry G. Hubbard, refers to the insect inhabitants of 

 Cryptoporus volvatus Peck var. obvolutus Peck, found on pine 

 trees of the Pacific Coast Range from the Columbia River 

 northward into British Columbia. Eleven species of beetles 

 are mentioned, together with unidentified lepidopterous and 

 coleopterous larvae, and these are divided into predatory vis- 

 itors and fungus eaters. In this paper the beetle Epuraea 

 monogama is said to transport the spores while Platydema 

 oregonense is said to cause the peculiar filaments which form 

 within the veil of the fungus. Murrill in his "Northern Poly- 

 pores" states that this fungus is largely dependent upon in- 

 sects for its distribution, that the sporophores often emerge 

 through insect tunnels, the volva is punctured by insects and 

 the spores carried to other trunks by insects. He also states, 

 however, that the sporophore is annual and matures early in 

 the season so that the volva would probably rupture by decay 

 in time to distribute the spores even if no apertures were 

 present. 



Fabre in his "Social Life in the Insect World," 3 mentions 

 two beetles as being associated with subterranean fungi, Aniso- 

 toma cinnamomea on truffles and Bolboceras gallicus on Hydno- 

 cystis arenaria and tells at length in his charming style about 

 his observations on the latter species. 



1 15th Rep. State Ent. Minn. 



a Canad. Ent. Vol. 24, 1892, pp. 250-56. 



' The Century Co., 1913. 



