above, germinated after a like lapse of time producing the same 

 species. It is fortunate for us that this pest is much less frequent 

 on wheat and barley than on rye. 



Some species of Cordyceps, or Torrubia, attack wasps and other 

 insects, and have given origin to what are known as " vegetable 

 wasps," the insects flying about with the fungus attached. 



Cordyceps alutacea Fr. may be alluded to as showing some of 

 the difficulties attending the study of this group of Fungi. Fries 

 regarded it as a Cordyceps from its form and habit ; Tulasne, 

 guided by its fruit, placed it in the genus Hypocrea, considering 

 it parasitic on Clavaria ligula, clothing that species with a thin 

 stroma in which the perithecia are immersed ; but it may be said 

 against that view, that Clavaria ligula has not occurred in 

 England unaccompanied by its presumed parasite; and as Cor- 

 dyceps alutacea is not uncommon in our fir plantations, it is 

 scarcely possible that such would be the case were the Clavaria 

 equally common. We may therefore fairly conclude that Fries was 

 right in placing our plant in the genus Cordyceps, and that it is 

 not merely a parasite on a Clavaria, but an autonomous species. 

 Cordyceps entomorrhiza is parasitic on the larvae of insects, Mr. 

 Berkeley supposes that the sporidia fall on the caterpillars before 

 they bury themselves to undergo their pupa change, or if at a later 

 period they may be washed down through the soil so as to attain 

 their proper habitat, as is now said to be the case with the 

 Peronospora of the potato. At all events this must be the case 

 where such species as Cordyceps capitata Fr. take possession of 

 Elaphomyces, a subterranean fungus which is buried, sometimes 

 deep in the ground. When the sporidia reach their proper 

 habitat they germinate and pierce the skin of the insect, or the 

 rind of the fungus, and occupy the whole of its body with an 

 intricate mass of threads. They then throw out branching roots 

 into the surrounding soil ; from these roots an erect, club-shaped 

 stroma arises, in which, at length, the perithecia are formed. 

 Tulasne says that a second form of fruit, conidia, occurs at the 



