1921] Wheeler: Some Social Beetles 81 



FIG. 12. HYPHOMYCETOUS PARASITE ON COCCI- 



DOTROPHVS SOCIALIS. 



From a drawing by Prof. Roland Thaxter. 



It seemed probable, nevertheless, that the beetle, living as it 

 does in dark, moist cavities, might be infested with ectoparasitic 

 fungi, especially of the group Laboulbeniales. I therefore re- 

 quested Prof. R. Thaxter, the leading specialist in this group, to 

 examine a large number of the beetles. After carefully scrutin- 

 izing their external surfaces he reports that he found no Laboul- 

 beniales, but only a sterile Hyphomycete, growing on the elytron 

 of one of the specimens. Referring to his work on the similar 

 fungi of other insects he writes me as follows: "The fungus on 

 the CoccidotropJuis probably belongs to the group spoken of at 

 the bottom of p. 237 in my first paper (1914), the most striking 

 form of which (Aposporella elegans Thaxter) , found on the 

 wings of a small fly from the Kamerun, is figured on Plate III, 

 Fig. 30 of the second paper (1920) . These fungi seem to produce 

 no spores and to reproduce by a kind of fragmentation; pieces 

 breaking off with little or no differentiation, and starting to grow 

 where they adhere. I have seen a considerable number of them 

 on a variety of tropical insects, and ran across one of them a 

 few days ago growing on a Lahoulhenia from Kamerun. It 

 has seemed hardly desirable to give names to such nondescript 



