148 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Infecting Phylloxera with Fungus 

 Disease — The French Academy of Sci- 

 ences, at its meeting of March 8, 1880, 

 discussed the question of the infection of 

 Phylloxera by parasitic fungi. Mr. A. 

 Giard considers Dr. Hagen's proposed me- 

 thod of infection as impractical. There 

 exists no species of these fungi which infects 

 all insects, each species infects only a sin- 

 gle species of insect or a single group, and 

 experiments to inoculate Phylloxera ought 

 to be made with a fungus which is known 

 to affect an allied insect, e. g., with Micro- 

 cora coccophila. But so far no method 

 is known by which this fungus can be arti- 

 ficially cultivated, as is possible with Isaria. 

 Mr. Hamm enumerates the different species 

 of fungi known to infest different species 

 of insects, and proposes to find out, by 

 experiment, whether the Phylloxera is sus- 

 ceptible to the attacks of one of these 

 fungi, then to discover a medium wherein 

 to cultivate its spores ; succeeding in this, 

 he would recommend to impregnate guano 

 with the spores and thus bring the Phyl- 

 loxera in contact with them. Mr. Emile 

 Blanchard has little confidence in the 

 effective destruction of Phylloxera by this 

 remedy, because such destruction of insect 

 life always occurs in nature in a restricted 

 sense, and the Phylloxera cannot possibly 

 be compared in this respect with the Silk- 

 worm, which, domesticated for centuries, 

 lives under abnormal conditions. 



FuNGU'^ IN Cicada. — It has long been 

 known that our Periodical Cicada (Cicada 

 septetjidecim and C. tredecini) is subject to 

 the attacks of a peculiar fungus. The in- 

 sect is often found with the internal parts, 

 especially of the abdomen, filled with a 

 yellowish, or clay-colored powder, which 

 is in reality composed of spores. Mr. Peck 

 has recently named this fungus Masso- 

 sphora cycadina, in the introductory portion 

 to the Thirty-first Report of the New 

 York State Museum of Natural History. 

 Prof. Jos. Leidy referred to this fungus in 

 the Proceedings of the Phila. Ac. Nat. Sc, 

 for 185 X (Vol. v, p. 235), but without 

 naming it 



On the Nature of the Phosphores- 

 cence OF the Glow-worm. — In some 

 experimental researches, the results of 

 which have lately been published in the 

 Comptes-rendus of the French Academy, 

 (Vol. 90, No. 7,) Mr. Jousset de Bellesme 

 draws the following conclusions : " It is 

 very probable that the phosphorescent sub- 

 stance is a gaseous product, for the struc- 

 ture of the gland, well studied by Owsjani- 

 kof, does not give one the idea of an organ 

 secreting liquid. But chemical phosphor- 

 escent products at an ordinary temperature 

 are not numerous, which induces one to be- 

 lieve the substance is phosphoretted hy- 

 drogen. It is for chemists to elucidate 

 this point ; but they should seek the 

 matter in the cellular protoplasm and not 

 directly. 



" My researches induce me to believe 

 phosphorescence a property of protoplasm, 

 consisting in the disengagement of phos- 

 phoretted hydrogen. This explains why 

 many of the lower animals, deprived of a 

 nervous system, are phosphorescent. Be- 

 sides, it offers the advantage of connecting 

 the phenomena of phosphorescence in living 

 beings with that we see in organic matters 

 in a state of decomposition. It is one 

 more example of a phenomenon of the 

 biological order traced to an exclusively 

 chemical cause." 



Death of Mules caused by Insects. 

 — The report comes from the Ouachita 

 Valley, Louisiana, that great numbers of a 

 " poisonous midge" made their appearance, 

 attacking the mules to such an extent that 

 in Ouachita, Caldwell, and Morehouse 

 parishes alone, about 6,000 mules perished 

 as a consequence. The insects disappeared 

 as suddenly as they came. The "pois- 

 onous " midge alluded to is, without doubt, 

 a species of Simulium, but whether or not 

 the report is exaggerated we have no means 

 of knowing. 



May-beetles have been swarming to an 

 unusual extent on the oaks around Mobile, 

 Ala., during the past month, absolutely de- 

 foliating the oak forests. 



