THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST, 119 



a Choretrum or Leptomeria or Amperea. Perfect stamina te 

 flowers and fruits as yet unknown. No particular cause exists for 

 assuming that this plant belongs to a genus distinct from Logania, 

 notwithstanding the complete severance of the corolla-lobes 

 (like in Galium) from each other. 



A Curious Fungus. — I wish to call your attention to some 

 curious specimens of fungi discovered by Mr. C. French, 

 F.L.S., at Cheltenham. He was examining a plant, Drosera 

 glandidigera, when he saw what he at first took to be a curious 

 fung with leg-like appendages, but upon closer examination he 

 found that several fungi were growing from the body and leg 

 joints of an ant. The ant has been identified by Professor 

 M'Coy as belonging to the species Formica corisobrina. There 

 were altogether nine separate fungs growing out of the unfortu- 

 nate insect — six from the leg joints, one from the body, one from 

 the sting, and the ninth from the mouth. The fungs were club- 

 shaped, with a long thin neck, surmounted by a beautiful pink, 

 egg-shaped head ; the head was surrounded by short white hairs, 

 except towards the apex. These curious parasites evidently 

 belong to the sub-genus Cordyceps of the Order Sphgeriacei. 

 This genus seems to be widely distributed over the Australian 

 colonies. The celebrated fungologist Berkeley mentions in his 

 "Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany " : — " Cordyceps robertsii, 

 which grows upon the larvte of Hepialus virescens, and is well 

 known to everyone who has seen or received specimens of the 

 productions of New Zealand. But this is far exceeded in size by 

 a species which grows on an enormous 4arv?e on the banks of the 

 Murrumbidgee, of which at present immature specimens only 

 have been examined. Most of the larvae which produce insects 

 probably carried the seeds of the disease with them into their 

 subterraneous retreat ; and in one species at least, which affects 

 wasps, the clubs with their curled stems are carried about till the 

 unhappy insect sinks under the exhaustion produced by the waste 

 of its fatty tissue." This short and pithy description of clubs with 

 their curled stems exactly corresponds with the appearance of the 

 fungi growing on the ant. There is a very fine specimen of 

 Cordyceps gunii in the Botanic Museum. It was discovered by 

 Mr. French growing out of a grub on the bank at the mouth of 

 the Yarra. A smaller species Cordyceps entonwrrhiza was found 

 on another grub in the same place. Cordyceps belongs to that 

 great division of fungoid growths which bear the spores or seeds 

 in bags. These bags, termed asci, usually contain eight egg- 

 shaped spores, and the asci are placed side by side, immersed in 

 a matrix of a softer or harder nature, according to the structure of 

 the plant. The asci in the plant discovered by Mr. French are 

 embedded in the fleshy portion of the head, — H. T. Tisdall, 



