changeable flesh, and same carmine tubes, changing to ferruginous. 



The resemblance is so close that English authorities to whom my 



^^^^ specimens and photographs have 



'$?< v' ; :/.'.;. been submitted have been strongly 



^^^ . ^^k ^ the P m i n that the two species 



<. 3 l||k are not distinct. The microscopic 



^b examination of the type of B. ru- 



/^H ^f binus does not bear out this view. 



QK^H j^^P* The spores of the type material of 



B. rubidus are 6 by 4 mic., those 



J ^H^ of our Asheville specimens 12 to 



^H / /^HBft 14 by 4 to 5 mic. This seems too 



^W great a difference to be ignored, 



" and it seems safer to consider the 



two species distinct. 



The photograph (Fig. 745) shows our plant well. In appearance 

 it is much like a diminutive B. chrysenteron, but the unusual color 

 of the tubes at once distinguishes it. 



ADDITIONAL NOTES ON CORDYCEPS. 



I am particularly interested in Cordyceps. They are most curious plants, 

 usually developed from the bodies of some insect, larva, or pupa. I trust any one 

 who finds specimens will favor me by simply drying them and sending to my ad- 

 dress. The host should always be dried and sent with the Cordyceps attached. If 

 the species is small and several are found, I should like a liberal collection. The 

 tropical species are very imperfectly known. 



CORDYCEPS SPHECOCEPHALA. FOUR FINE SPECI- 

 MENS FROM A. H. RITCHIE, GOVERNMENT ENTOMOL- 

 OGIST, JAMAICA. Cordyceps sphecocephala is one of the most 



frequent species of the West Indies on 

 wasps. It was first mentioned by 

 Father Torrubia from Cuba one hun- 

 dred and sixty years ago, and an 

 evident but inaccurate figure given. 

 It was noticed in several of the very- 

 early works on the West Indies. We 

 reproduce Father Torrubia's illustra- 

 tion on the opposite page. While he 

 took a few liberties in representing 

 the Cordyceps as being a plant with 

 leaves, it was a kind of "scientific" 

 license that was current in those old 

 days. The same license is still taken 

 in some of the illustrations issued by 

 more modern delineators. We could 

 cite a number of illustrations issued 

 by recent mycologists that are just 

 about as accurate as this is. In those 

 days they supposed it was a mutation of an animal into a plant. 

 Klotzsch named specimens as above, in Hooker's herbarium, and 

 under this name they were first published by Berkeley. Afterwards 



544 



Fig. 746. 



