MONOGRAPH OF THE LABOULBENIACE^. 
Pkesented May 8^ 1895. 
PART I. 
In the first part of this Memoir I have given an account of the History, Distribu- 
tion, General Morphology and Development, Hosts, etc., of the Laboulbeniacea} ; while 
the second part comprises a systematic examination of the species and genera illus- 
trating the family. Before entering, however, on the detailed consideration of the 
topics mentioned, it has seemed desirable, by way of introduction, to present a brief 
account of the more general characters of these plants. 
Unlike the majority of fungi which subsist as parasites of living insects, the 
present group includes none of the conspicuous productions that are so characteristic 
among entomogenous fungi generally; and their usually minute size doubtless 
accounts, in some degree, for the fact that, although they are in certain respects 
among the most important of fungus organisms, they have been so long neglected by 
botanists and so generally overlooked or disregarded by entomologists. When ex- 
amined in sUu on the host insect, they appear in general like minute, usually dai-k- 
colored or yellowish bristles or bushy hairs, projecting from its chitinous integument 
either singly or in pairs, more commonly scattered, but often densely crowded over 
certain areas on which they form a furry coating. Unlike other entomogenous fungi 
also, the Laboulbcniaceae can lay no claim to economic importance ; and although 
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they may be said to produce a contagious cutaneous disease, they give rise to none 
of the fatal epidemics which are liable to be associated with the parasitism of species 
of Cordyccps and Entomophthora. On the contrary, the very existence of these 
parasites would seem io be dependent on the fact that tbe host is not destroyed by 
their attack; since their own life ends with that of the insect to which they are 
attached, and their perpetuation from generation to generation and from year to year 
is undoubtedly dependent on the direct transference from one living insect to another 
of their reproductive bodies. So far, then, as they are at present known, they inflict 
