56 



The Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales (vol. 10, 1899, 

 p. 1213) contains "A brief report of locust funuus,'' l)y D. McAlpine, 

 in which the writer sa3\s that a fung-us which has been used against 

 locusts at Cape of Good Hope with good success has also been intro- 

 duced into New South Wales and identilied l)y him as Mucor racemosus. 



In looking up the bibliography of the fungus called JIucor v'aceinosu.s 

 it was found that two quite distinct plants have received this name. 

 One of these was described by Bulliard in Hist. Champs., France, and 

 is said by DeCandolle to belong to the genus Botrytis as now limited. 

 The name of this fungus would then appear as Botnjfh racernosa 

 (Bull.) DC; while the other, which has l)een the one under considera- 

 tion, should be known as Mucor race7jwsus¥res. (BeitrJige zur Mj^kolo- 

 gie). The Botrytis has been found upon putrid, oily, or greasy 

 substances in France and Germany, while, on the other hand, the 

 Mucor occurs quite generally over the world as a connuon mold that 

 attacks decaying, starchy, and other substances. 



Being so generally distributed, and withal so readily grown, there 

 is no wonder that this last mentioned should have been the fungus 

 isolated, as heretofore stated, instead of the Empusa, which is 

 extremel}' difficult to grow upon various culture media, such as are 

 used for the artificial propagation of bacteria. 



It might be mentioned also that in our experiments here at the 

 University of Nebraska we have experienced great difficulty in isolat- 

 ing any particular fungus, and especially with recognized insect- 

 attacking genera like Empusa. Botrytis, Sporotrichum, and Isaria. 

 Almost invariably these would l^e accompanied by saproph3"tic fungi, 

 such as Mucor, Fusarium, Alternaria, Macrosporium, Aspergillus, 

 etc., which would very quickl}^ crowd the others out. 



If the reader will take the trouble to refer to the instructions which 

 accompany the various tubes of this South African locust fungus 

 when they are distributed he will find the following directions given 

 for securing an abundant supply of the material: 



Collect a large number of grasshoppers which have died from the fungus. Dig a 

 hole in the ground about 18 inches deep and 1 foot wide. Strew some grasshopjjers 

 over the bottom, then sprinkle some water over them. Repeat with grasshoppers 

 and again sprinkle until the hole is full. Do not press the grasshoppers in the hole, 

 but leave them lightly packed. Then cover with a piece of tin or l)oard and keep 

 the hole thus carefully covered for four or five days. If warm weather, four days 

 will be sufficient, but if colder a longer time will be required. At the end of this 

 time remove the grasshoppers and spread them out in the sun for an hour or two, 

 or until thoroughly dry. Now grind them into a meal. Of this meal, which may 

 be kept dry for a long time xintil wanted, take two tablespoonfuls and add it to a 

 large tumblerful of water, into which some sugar has been placed. Leave this in a 

 warm place for twelve to forty-eight hours, and then treat live grasshoppers by dip- 

 ping, etc., just as one does when using the fungus when supplied in tubes. 



If such a proceeding as that just described does not result in the 

 growth of a variety of common molds, Macor racemosxis among them. 



