6 On Aphis rumicis on the Mangel- Wurzeltn Shropshire. 



lent me bj Dr. Cooke. I was not fortunate enough to find 

 the resting' spore in the mangel aphis ; but should it appear 

 again this autumn I may be more successful. The species 

 may be called pro tern. Entomopldhoraferruginea, n. s. 



" The dull green fungus which at a later stage covers the 

 dead bodies of the aphides and entirely obscures, though it 

 does not destroy, the above-described Entomojyhthora, bears a 

 general resemblance to Penicillium glaucum to the naked eye 

 (PI. III. B, fig. 1). This also sends its more delicate mycelial 

 threads through the mummified aphides, appearing at length on 

 the outer surface as erect dendritic conidiophores (fig. 2). It 

 can be best traced in the legs of the insect, which are usually 

 unaffected by the Entomo'phtliora. After traversing the inte- 

 rior of the leg it issues from between the joints (fig. 3), 

 throwing up a number of slender septate threads, about '5 

 millim. high and "004 millim. broad, which form a fasciculate 

 head of dichotomously branching chains of conidia, which are 

 cylindrical, rounded at the ends, and variable in length. 

 This appears to agree with Penicillium cladosporioidesy Fresen. 

 Beitr. t. iii. figs. 23-28." 



Since the above was in type, Mr. Phillips informs me 

 that he has not seen Entomophthora Planchoniana, described 

 by Prof. Max Cornu, of Paris, which also grows on aphides, 

 and should be compared with the above {vide ' Bulletin de la 

 Societe Bot. de France,' 1873, p. 189). I observe also that 

 Miss Ormerod records, as an insect injurious to mangels, the 

 beetle Steroinis madidas (Roj'al Agricult. Soc, Report, April 

 1886, p. 311), " previously believed to be only carnivorous." 

 As this insect is one of the Harpalidaj, some species of which 

 are known to be herbivorous (see West wood's ' Mod. Class, 

 of Insects," i. p. 63), it is quite probable that we may hear 

 more ot this little beetle as an enemy to mangel crops. 



W. Houghton. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE III. 

 A. 



Fig. 1. An aphis kiUed by Entomophthora ferrugmea, the natural 



size. 

 Figs. 2-7. Mycelial cells found in the interior of the body of the aphis. 



Magnitied about 350 times. 

 Figs. 8-12. Mycelial celln, bearing on their summits the conidia in 



vaiious stages of formation by abstriction. 

 Fig. 13. Conidia in different conditions, a, a, a, a, showing the truncate 



base by -which they were attached to the conidiophores ; b, b, 



conidia \A'ith the base rounded off; c, c, others throwing out 



{•erm-tubes from both ends. 



