294 



SPH^ERIsE. 



PART II. 



West Indies, which continues to fly about after it is 

 attacked, is at last killed by branching Cordyceps, which 

 project from its head like a pair of antlers. But the 

 largest of all these parasites grows on an enormous 

 larva found on the banks of the river Murrumbidgee 

 in Australia. It appears that species of Sphserise are 

 parasitic on insects of very different affinities in China, 

 America, and Europe. It may be presumed that, like 

 the Cordyceps militaris, they are the ultimate develop- 

 ment of fungi belonging to other families. 



Fig. 36. Sphseriacei : Sphgeria Desmazierii ; a, ascus ; b, sporidia ; c, mycelium with 

 conidia. Mucedines : d, Botrytis curta. 



In the genus Sphseria the fungus springs at once 

 from its mycelium, and consists of a perithecium or 

 external case, to the internal walls of which the asci 

 are fixed. Each ascus contains eight sporidia or spore 

 cells, and when the fruit is ripe the asci are emitted 

 through a pore or slit in the perithecium or external coat. 

 Fig. 36 represents the fructification of Sphseria Desma- 



