; 89 
STUDIES IN ENTOMOGENOUS FUNGI. 
With Plates III—V*. 
l. THE NECTRIAE PARASITIC ON SCALE INSECTS. 
by I. Petch, B.A;:, BSc. 
Among the fungi known to develop on scale insects, the 
Nectriae occupy the first place from the historical point of view, 
a conidial stage belonging to this group having been described 
as growing on a coccus in 1848; while during recent years they 
have become the species most generally employed in the 
numerous attempts to control scale insects by means of entomo- 
genous fungi. The present account deals with them from the 
systematic standpoint, and is the outcome of an examination 
of a number of collections from different countries which have 
come into my possession during the last fifteen years, as well 
as of the specimens in the Herbaria of the Royal Botanic 
Gardens, Kew, and the British Museum (Natural History). 
My thanks are due to Mr E. E. Green, the well-known 
authority on Coccidae, for much of the available material from 
Ceylon and elsewhere, including part of the specimens examined 
and described by Parkin; to Mr H. S. Fawcett for material 
from Florida; Mr F. W. South, for specimens from the West 
Indies; Dr E. J. Butler, for specimens from India; Mr C. C. 
Brittlebank, for specimens from Australia; Prof. Ito, for 
specimens from Japan and Formosa; and Dr C. Spegazzini for 
specimens from South America. 
I must also offer my apologies to the gentlemen named for 
the delay in dealing with the specimens they had so readily 
contributed. 
HISTORICAL. 
The earliest record of any fungus of this group on a coccid 
was made by Desmaziéres in 1848. Specimens of a conidial 
fungus, which appeared on scale insects on willows and ash 
trees in the winter months at Caen (Cadonum), France, had 
been sent him by one of his correspondents, M. Roberge, and 
for these he instituted a new.genus, Microcera, with the species 
Microcera coccophila. 
Desmazi€res’ generic description is “‘ Microcera Desmaz., nov. 
gen. Velum externum persistens, membranaceo-floccosum, dein 
supra in lacinias plures rumpens; receptaculum clavatum, 
carnosum, e fibris subsimplicibus_ sporidiiferis formatum; 
sporidia fusiformia, arcuata.”’ 
* The Plates will accompany the continuation of this article in the next 
Part of the Transactions. 
