20 Thirty-first Report on the State Museum. 



were found, not a few of which were filled by the fungoid mass. As the insect 

 makes its appearance only at intervals of seventeen years, and consequently will 

 not be seen here again till 1894, it will scarcely be possible to make any further 

 observations on it and its parasite for some time to come, yet it would be inter- 

 esting to know how the fungus is propagated, or where its germs remain during 

 the long interval between the appearance of two generations. Do the fungus 

 germs enter the ground in the body of the larva, and slowly develop with its 

 growth, becoming mature when it is mature, or do they remain quiescent on or 

 near the surface of the ground, waiting to enter the body of the pupa as it 

 emerges seventeen years hence ? Or, again, is it possible that the fungus is 

 developed annually in some closely related species as the " Harvest-fly," Cicada 

 canicularis, and that it passes over from its usual habitat to the seventeen-year 

 cicada whenever it has the oportunity ? These questions are merely suggestive. 

 They cannot yet be answered.* 



While in the Adirondack region numerous clumps of alders were noticed that 

 had their leaves nearly all skeletonized by the larvae of some unknown insect. The 

 larvae were nearly black in color and scarcely half an inch long. They were seen 

 in countless numbers feeding upon the leaves and threatening by their numbers, 

 even if but half of them should come to maturity, in another year to completely defo- 

 liate the alders of that region. Upon looking under the affected bushes for the 

 pupae of the insect, in order, if possible, to have the means of ascertaining the 

 species, what was my astonishment to find the ground thickly flecked with little 

 white floccose masses of mold, and that each one of these tufts of mold was the 

 downy fungoid shroud of a dead larva from the alders. Not a single living pupa 

 could be found, but there were hundreds of dead and moldy larvae, killed without 

 doubt by the fungus, which is nature's antidote to an over-production of this 

 insect, and nature's agency for protecting the alders from utter destruction. 



While on the way from Summit to Jefferson in Schoharie county, an apple 

 tree was observed on which much of the fruit was discolored, and appeared as if 

 beginning to decay. Some of the passengers in the stage remarked that they 

 "never before knew of apples rotting on the tree." Some of the fruit was 

 procured, and found to be affected by a fungus known to botanists by the name 

 Sphoeropsis Malorum, or apple Sphaeropsis. It has been described as attack- 

 ing " apples lying on the ground " in winter. Here was an instance in which 

 the apples were attacked while yet on the tree, and that, too, as early as Septem- 

 ber. The apples attacked by the fungus are rendered worthless, and experi- 

 ments recently made indicate that the disease is contagious, and may be com- 

 municated from one apple to another. For example, a perfectly sound apple 

 was placed in a drawer with one that was affected by the fungus. In a few 

 days the sound apple began to show signs of decay. Its whole surface had 

 assumed a dull brown color as if beginning to rot. Two or three days later 

 small pale spots made their appearance, and in the center of each there was a 

 minute rupture of the epidermis. An examination of the substance of the apple 

 in these pale spots revealed fungoid filaments that had permeated the cells of 

 the apple. In two or three days more, numerous minute black pustules or 

 papillae had appeared. They were thickly scattered over nearly the whole sur- 

 face of the apple. These constitute the Sphaeropsis. When microscopically 

 examined, each one of these black papillae is found to contain several oblong pale 

 fungus spores (seeds) supported on a short stem or foot-stalk, from which they 

 soon separate. It would be well, therefore, whenever this fungus-rot makes its 



* Since this was written, I have found in the Smithsonian Contributions, Vol. v, p. 53, a very 

 good account of this fungus, by Dr. Leidy, of Philadelpia, but as no name was given to it, a name 

 and description will be published. 



