454 FUNGUS-INSECT INTERRELATIONSHIPS 



Interest in such problems involving ants as growers of fungi 

 should be stimulated bv perusal of the reports of Aloller (1893), 

 Wheeler (1907), Elliott (1915), Bailey (1920), Spegazzini (1922), 

 and Weber (1938). 



Termites and fungi. One group of the termites cultivates 

 fungi in "gardens" for use as food. Such termites are colonial and 

 live either in lar^e nests (termitaria) built underground or in 

 mounds above ground. Within these nests are compartments in 

 which the fungi are cultivated on termite excrement. The fungi 

 grown are eaten by the young and constitute essentially the only 

 food used. In spite of the fact that naturalists found fungi in ter- 

 mite nests nearly 200 vears ago, little is yet known regarding the 

 identitv of such fungi, as is indicated bv the accounts of Holter- 

 man (1898),Petch (i906, 1913), Brown (1918), Bose (1923), and 

 Uphof (1942). Uphof states that Berkeley in 1869 described a 

 fungus taken from white-ant nests as Agaricas terviitigina, prob- 

 ably identical with Lentimts cartilagineus. He further states that 

 Cesati in 1870 regarded Tricholoma snbgavibosnm, which occurs 

 in Cevlon, Java, Singapore, and Borneo as a termite fungus. 

 Fungi identified as Pint ens tennitus and Xylaria m gripes have been 

 taken from termite nests in Brazil. In India Bose (1923) found 

 that termites cultivate Colly bia albnminosa but "weed out" the 

 stromata of Xylaria nigripes. Petch (1906) made the observation 

 that Agaricus sp. does not grow in the soil surrounding the nest 

 but onlv on the "comb" in compartments while the nests are in- 

 habited. After the nests have been abandoned, Peziza epispadia, 

 Podaxon sp., and other fungi develop on the comb. 



In addition to the cases of ectosvmbiosis involving fungi and 

 insects which have been enumerated, attention may be directed 

 to the existence of endosvmbiosis. The best known of these endo- 

 biotic relations involve termites that digest wood but are able to 

 do so onlv through the agency of svmbiotic protozoa that live 

 within their intestines. The claim has been made by Koch ( 193 1 ) 

 that an unnamed fundus, which is endobiotic, lives in the fat 

 bodies of the saw-tooth grain weevil, Oryzaephilus snrinamensis, 

 and in some manner contributes to fat metabolism. This relation- 

 ship is maintained from generation to generation by invasion of 

 the eggs. 



