S'ATUKAL, COIs'TEOL OF CITRUS MEALYBUG IN FLORIDA. 5 



whether or not the two are identical. Inasmuch, however, as no rest- 

 ing spores were observed on the Java material, and as the conidia 

 seem unlike those of the Florida form, the writer has chosen to regard 

 the latter as a new species. Zimmerman,'^ in discussing the Java 

 form, described very well the spherical hyphal bodies. It is interest- 

 ing to note that he observed four nuclei in these cells, and that the 

 writer subsequently found the same number (PI. I, 10) in the corre- 

 sponding vegetative stage of the present organism. The conidia 

 were described as pear-shaped, approximately 18 microns long and 9 

 to 10 microns wide. A dark-colored conidial membrane is also men- 

 tioned, Johnston ^ reported a mealybug Entomophthora from Porto 

 Rico which he doubtfully referred to E. fresenii. He observed no 

 resting spores, however, and apparently regarded the assignment of 

 this form to E. fresenii as tentative. It may be identical with the 

 one herein considered. 



As a group the various species of Entomophthora are perhaps the 

 most important natural control agents of insects laiown among the 

 fungi. Species have been recorded on members of the following 

 insect orders : Diptera, Lepidoptera, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Coleop- 

 tera, Hymenoptera, Neuroptera, Thysanoptera ; they have also been 

 recorded on the Arachnida, and the writer has observed a species 

 of the (rrylli type upon a large myriapod in the vicinity of Wash- 

 ington, D. C. Many of the attacked insects are injurious, as, for 

 example, the brown-tail moth, Euproctis chrysorrhoea L., which is 

 destroyed in vast numbers, and in fact this insect is to-day in a 

 A'irtual state of control in the United States, due largely to the work 

 of Entomophthora aulicae. 



The citrus mealj^bug Entomophthora ranks as high as the brown- 

 tail moth fungus as a control agent. That it has passed unob- 

 served — that its work has not been before realized — is due to a lack 

 of knowledge. It has probably been present in Florida for years, 

 exacting an enormous toll of mealybugs year after year, and bring- 

 ing about, during many seasons, the virtual control of this insect. 

 Such a lack of knowledge doubtless has caused, through misdirected 

 efforts, the waste of much money among the citrus growers in 

 Florida. 



While it is sometimes difficult to separate the various species of 

 this genus taxonomically, in the present instance it was not par- 

 ticularly so, as the fungus can not possibly be confused with any 

 knoAvn species exce])t the poorly described E. lecanii. It possesses 

 resting s].iores unlike those of any known form, and its conidia are 



■^ Konigsberger, J. C, and Zimmerman, A. De dierlijke vijanden der kafiEiecultuur op 

 Java. Deel II. Meded. 'Slands Plantentuin, no. 44, p. 16. 1901. 



8 Johnston, .J. R. The entomogenous fungi of Porto Rico. Board Comm. Agr. Bui. 10, 

 Rio Piedras, P. R., p. 21. 1915. 



