16i THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



necessary item in the distribution and increase of this parasite. 

 The "fruits" last for a considerable time, but shrivel up when 

 dried, and decay away from the "mummy" larva below long 

 before the larva becomes disintegrated. Sometimes the para- 

 sitised larvffi lie flat in the ground, but the majority, especially 

 those with the fruit-bearing body, are at right angles to the 

 surface of the soil. One some distance from the surface had the 

 stem quite white, much bent, and three inches long. 



Through the kindness of Mr. Kennard I had the opportunity 

 of examining these creatures in the soil. They were only to be 

 found round peony roots, and seldom more than two feet away 

 from the plants, although living li(puliniis larva" could be found 

 in all parts. This fact of their presence only near peony roots 

 may be of some importance in regard to the life-history of this 

 fungus, possibly some of the early stages may take place on that 

 plant. The life-history of none of these fungi is known. Some 

 authorities su^jpose that the various Isarias that also affect 

 insects are stages of Cordijceps. Cook, however, we must 

 remember, seems to have found them in abundance at the roots 

 of coltsfoot at Hitchin. 



Many of these "vegetable larvae" and the earth in which they 

 were found were obtained with the idea that other areas might 

 be infected with this disease. Experiments in this direction 

 have not been altogether satisfactory, although numbers of sound 

 hipnliiius larvfe from other localities kept in this contaminated 

 soil became invaded by this fungus when kept in a damp heat. 

 Those kept in a dry heat showed no signs of being attacked. 



Several other kinds of " surface larvae " (NoctuaO were also 

 subjected to the same treatment, but none developed the disease, 

 although kept under exactly similar conditions as the Hepialus 

 larvae. The ripe spore germinates rapidly if placed on a healthy 

 larva of the latter genus, the mycelial thread entering the 

 spiracle, and commences at once to invade the organs, leaving 

 the alimentary canal until last. As a rule the larva seems to 

 have reached maturity before it dies, but I have found some 

 quite small larvae dead in the soil. 



At present our knowledge of the vegetal enemies of insects 

 is not sufticient to enable us to carry out any experiments 

 successfully in regard to their use as a means of keeping down 

 an excess of insect pests. The only good results attending such 

 experiments have been in regard to Isaiia dcnsa,^' of Giard, a 

 parasite that has been sufficiently abundant in France to be 

 cultivated on a large scale and sold to farmers as a means of 

 destroying the " white grubs " of the Melalonthidae, a family 

 much subject to vegetal parasites, species of Cordijccps often being 

 abundant on them. Some success has also attended Professor 

 Snow's employment and distribution of the Sporotriclium globuli- 

 /cnun of Spegazzini, as an antidote for the destructive "chinch 

 ■'' ' Comptes Eendus,' jo. 1079. 



