404 Journal of Agricultural Research voi. xvni. no. a 



appeared, in which attempts are made to define the relationship of 

 Sorosporella with other entomogenous fungi, but on account of the scanty 

 information afforded by the literature on the subject and the lack of 

 original work such attempts have not met with much success. 



It has been generally believed up to the present time, however, that 

 the fungus under consideration should not be called Tarichium in the 

 sense that the name is employed in T. megaspermum, but that neverthe- 

 less it should be placed in the Entomophthorales because of the resem- 

 blance of the resting spores to those of the entomophthoraceous genus 

 Massospora. 



In addition to such purely taxonomic papers, one or two have appeared 

 dealing mainly with the artificial culture of the organism and its value 

 as a means of combating insect pests. 



Skrzhinskii (16) apparently observed the yeastlike vegetative develop- 

 ment of the fungus within the insect ; but the significance of such a method 

 of development was evidently not appreciated, for it was but briefly 

 mentioned. 



Danysz and Wize (6) report success in cultivating the organism on 

 artificial media but deduce several erroneous conclusions regarding its 

 life history, stating that the resting spores multiply by division within 

 the interior of their walls, which afterward burst and release the newly 

 formed spores. The latter continue to grow, subdividing into two or 

 four if conditions are favorable; but if the nutrient in which they are 

 growing becomes dried out, thick walls are produced which render them 

 identical in appearance with the mother cells. If the cultures are kept 

 for a sufficient time, mycelial filaments are produced from the encysted 

 cells. Nothing is said, however, of the conidia which probably arise on 

 the filaments. In this connection it should be stated that these authors 

 were unable to inoculate insects either with the resting spores or with 

 the mycelial filaments, yet they admit the infectiousness of the fungus 

 in stating that in certain regions of Russia it is a more effective enemy 

 of Cleonus than is Metarrhizium anisopliae (Oospora). 



So far as the writer is aware the foregoing abstracts include all the 

 more important references to Sorosporella uvella which have appeared up 

 to the present time, and from the information therein it is obvious that 

 the life history of the organism has been incompletely known, rendering 

 it one of the most obscure forms of the entomogenous fungi. 



Since all the descriptions of the fungus available at the present time 

 are so brief as to be almost valueless for taxonomic purposes, the follow- 

 ing is appended: 



Sorosporella uvella (Krass.) Gd. (8) S>ti.: Tarichium uvella Krassilstschik (11); 

 Sorosporella agroiidis Sorokin (ly); Acremonium cleoni Wize {24); ? Massospora staritzii 

 Bresadola (j); ? Fusarium acremoniopsis Vincens {22). 



Entomogenous. Resting spores formed endogenously, spherical or subspherical, 

 7 to 10 microns in diameter, occasionally papillate, with somewhat thick, irregular 



