172 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



As this specimen of agathina has been dead some five- or six- 

 and-twenty years, this glass-like cyst is probably formed of 

 something different to ordinary vegetable substances. 



Various species of Satyridse are the hosts of a different form 

 of fungus. In these the spores are not enclosed in a sporangium, 

 but remain in the perithecium until mature, when they escape 

 through a projecting tube* or spout ; considerable numbers of 

 spores may be seen on some of the slides, having fallen out since 

 the specimens were mounted. Fungi of this character I have 

 found on Satyriis semele, Pararge egeria, P. megcera, Epinephele 

 janira, E. tithonuSy E. hyperanthesy and Coenonympha pamphilus ; 

 none were found on C. davits or Melanargia galatea ; I have not 

 examined Erehia epiphron or E, medea. The females of this 

 family also seem to be free of the parasites. The fungus of S, 

 semele has its sides parallel with each other, which, with its 

 somewhat dark colour, gives it a robust appearance ; the rhizoid 

 forms a fringe the whole width of the base. The others are all 

 much alike, and resemble in outline miniature carrots, or other 

 similar tap-roots. They only differ in their relative proportions, 

 and in being of lighter or darker colours. Thus the fungi of E, 

 janira and P, egeria are long and slender, tapering gradually 

 to the base ; while that of E. tithonus is much broader above, 

 and diminishes almost to a thread some distance from the 

 rhizoid. The fungus of E. hyperanthesy as might be expected, is 

 very dark, almost black (they only occur in small numbers) ; 

 while little C. pamphilus has a correspondingly small fungus, 

 which, however, is rather broad right down to the rhizoid, the 

 latter being large in proportion to those found on the other 

 species. 



The parent forms of the fungi will probably be found — in a 

 degraded state — on the food-plants of the various butterfly 

 larvae. We may easily believe that the spores would be distri- 

 buted by the butterflies when hovering over the plants, and, after 

 leading an epiphytal existence for a time, would be eaten by the 

 caterpillars with the leaves on which they feed. 



All the fungi hitherto noticed appear to belong to Berkeley's 

 Gasteromycetes, a rather high order of the class. But certain 

 species of Lyccena support a minute fungus, which, seen by trans- 

 mitted light, appear like miniature tennis-rackets; viewed in this 

 manner we get a false idea of their structure. They are conical 

 or flattened pear-shaped bodies, with moderately long stems, no 

 perithecium being present ; the spores are external, and arranged 

 in rows on the surface of a sporophore. The microscope I am using 

 will not enable me to determine whether the spores are or are 



phosphoric glass " (Berkeley, Crypt. Bot., page 339). Does the sporangium 

 noticed above owe its transparency to this substance ? 



'•= These tubes are, I believe, the representatives of the *' trichogyne " of 

 some seaweeds (Florides, &c.). — J. C. R. 



