THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 33 



flower is the chief distinguishing characteristic, it is likely that 

 a good many botanists will incline to hold to the old name or, 

 if it is regarded as distinct, to call it the variety rubrum as the 

 nurserymen do. If the writer's memory is not at fault the red 

 flowered form occasionally occurs in New England. If so, 

 there is still greater reason for calling one a mere color form 

 of the other. The observation of New England readers on 

 this point would be of much interest. In addition to the new 

 species described, two forms are distinguished; the variety um- 

 belliferum, with several flowers from the top whorl of leaves, 

 and the variety unifolium, which bears a single flower. Still 

 another plant with smaller leaves is named L. peramoenum. 



An Insect Fungus. — Some of the most remarkable 

 fungi in the world are found in the genus Cordyccps. They 

 have the peculiar habit of developing in the bodies of insects. 

 When a spore once gains admission to the body of a cater- 

 pillar, it begins to grow and ultimately the fungus replaces the 

 animal's tissues with its own cells until what was once an in- 

 sect is now a plant with an exact likeness to an insect. At this 

 stage the fungus is called a sclerotium. It may remain dor- 

 mant for some time, but when the proper season arrives it sends 

 up a club-shaped or branched sporophore which produces 

 spores to repeat the process. The species of Cordyccps are 

 widely distributed. They belong to a group of fungi known 

 as Ascomycetes and are therefore not distant relatives of cup- 

 fungi, grape and lilac mildew and many other plant pests. In 

 some parts of the world the sclerotia of the Cordyccps is used 

 as food. 



Producing New Varieties. — We have repeatedly point- 

 ed out that the production of new varieties is a comparatively 

 easy matter. In this matter anybody can be a Burbank in his 

 own back yard. This fact is beginning to receive attention 

 from the nurseymen and florists as may be seen from the fol- 

 lowing note taken from the editorial page of Horticulture: "In 



