1S95.I 215 



FUNGOID DISEASE OF TIPULM, &c. 



BY BARON C. R. OSTEN SACKEN, Hon. F.E.S. 



The notes by E. C. Bradley, " An Epidemic among Melanosfoma 

 scalare, caused by a fungus," in the August number of this Magazine, 

 induce me to publish a similar case of disease which I observed on 

 several species of TipulcB of the group Murmoratce, Schum. During 

 the rainy summer of 1S91 I spent some time in the Hotel Kohlhof, 

 about 1800 feet above sea level, near Heidelberg, and noticed the 

 frequent occurrence, in the woods, of such diseased Tipulce. In June 

 I observed them with a swollen abdomen ; through the thin membrane 

 connecting the dorsal and ventral sclerites I could perceive something 

 like an internal foam, composed of minute globular vesicles, which 

 filled the abdomen. The chitinous coverings, especially towards the 

 end of the abdomen, were scaling off: from the effects of the disease, 

 and in several cases the whole horny forceps of the male had fallen 

 off, although the insect was fully alive and able to fly. I detached a 

 part of the abdomen, placed it on a glass slide in a drop of w'ater, and 

 examined it under a magnifying power of 100. The vesicles, detached 

 from the mass, appeared ovoid, with a distinct circular nucleus in the 

 centre. Within the mass these ovoid vesicles seemed to be arranged 

 in a beadlike fashion. Later, in July, I found a live specimen of the 

 same kind of Tipula with the contents of the abdomen quite dry, 

 pulverized, and the end of the abdomen broken off, just as in the 

 above-mentioned cases. Prof. Askenasy, of Heidelberg, determined 

 the fungus as an Einpusn, perhaps E. tipulce, Fresen. 



A case very similar to that of Mr Bradley's, concerning the same 

 species of Sijrphus {S. meUinus, L., = Melan. scalare, F.), has been 

 described in detail by MM. C. Brongniart and Maxioie Cornu in the 

 vol. for 1878 of the "Assoc. Fran9aise pour I'avancement des Sciences." 

 The plant was Molinia coerulea. To the literature quoted by those 

 authors may be added the observation of F. Ludwig, in the " Botan. 

 Centralbl.," Cassel, 1884, pp. 122-123, who found on the same plant, 

 Moli7iia coerulea (near Grciz and Elsterberg in Central Germany on 

 August 20th) thousands of specimens of SyrphidcB of the allied genera 

 Melithreptus, Melanontoma and Platychirus, mostly dead, some of them 

 still alive, but all affected by a fungoid disease. (An extract by J. 

 Mik will be found in the \Y\en. Ent. Zeit., 1885, p. 30). 



Heidelberg : August \si, 1895. 



