FUNGI PARASITIC ON BUTTERFLIES. 171 



striated surface of the scales. Of this species I examined and 

 found fungi on four males, but could not detect them on any of 

 the seven females that came under my notice. 



A fungus found on Pieris napi is apparently identical with 

 that of P. rapce. The butterfly from which my specimens were 

 taken had been killed seven or eight years, and the fungi have 

 probably become distorted in drying, and the sporangia have in 

 most cases fallen from their stalks, and may be seen lying among 

 the scales. I only examined one pair of this species ; it was 

 only the male on which fungi were found ; and I may state here 

 in reference to the other species that I am about to mention, 

 that I have not yet discovered a fungus on any female individual. 



A fungus of somewhat different form was found on a foreign 

 specimen of Pieris daplidice ; this is oblong in shape, the end 

 bearing the rhizoid somewhat angular ; there are no lobes as in 

 the preceding examples. 



Euchloe cardamines has a similar parasite, perhaps slightly 

 narrower than that of P. daplidice. They occur in both the 

 white and the orange portions of the wing. 



The males of Aporia cratcegi also have the same type of 

 fungus parasitical upon them. They differ from the foregoing 

 in that their sides are not parallel, thus causing them to taper 

 somewhat towards the apex. 



I have also examined three males and one female of Leuco- 

 phasia sinapis, with the result that no fungi were found on any 

 of them. This is the only species of British white butterfly on 

 which the fungus is not present, and is also the only species in 

 which the males possess more black scales than the females. 



Several South African butterflies have similar parasites. Thus 

 Pieris severina has one much like that of E. cardamines, except 

 that the cyst is supported on a shorter stalk ; while AnthocJiaris 

 achine and A. omphale present modifications of form, and have 

 their sporangia on rather long stalks, and also show signs of 

 rupture at their apices. Pieris agathina (also a South African 

 species) is the host of a very delicate and beautiful fungus. This 

 is square in section, has no rhizoid like those previously men- 

 tioned, but is supported by four " ribs,"* one at each angle ; the 

 upper part of the body has a number of similar ribs, — all these 

 ribs and the connecting membrane are reflexed or turned over at 

 the top, which, while affording additional strength at the open 

 end of the body, also forms a pretty border or coping to its walls ; 

 there is a central stem passing through the whole length of the 

 fungus bearing a large sporangium, which, with the exception of 

 a black spot at the apex, appears like a bubble of blown glass. f 



='' These are probably "paraphyses" having a tendency to bend out- 

 wards, thus assisting in rupturing the top of the sporocarp, and converting 

 the original circular shape into the square form of the mature organism. 



f " Dr. Wollaston found the spores of Beticularia maxima to yield a 



o2 



