REPORT OF THE BOTANIST. 



S. B. Woolworth, LL. D., 



Secretary of the Board of Regents of the University : 



Sir — Since the date of my last report, specimens of one hundred nnd eighty- 

 nine species of plants have been mounted and placed in the Herbarium of the 

 State Museum of Natural History, of which one hundred and sixty-two were not 

 before represented therein. Twenty-seven are improved specimens or new 

 varieties not before represented. A list of the specimens mounted is marked (1). 



Specimens have been collected in the counties of Albany, Columbia, Dela- 

 ware, Essex, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schoharie and Ulster. These represent one 

 hundred and twenty-seven species new to the Herbarium, fifty-eight of which 

 are believed to be new or hitherto undescribed. A list of the specimens col- 

 lected is marked (2). 



Specimens of twenty New York species, new to the Herbarium, and not 

 among my collections of the past season, have been contributed by, or been 

 obtained in naming specimens for, correspondents. These added to the collected 

 species make the whole number of additions one hundred and forty-seven species. 

 A list of contributors and their contributions is marked (3). 



Previously unreported species and descriptions of new species are given in a 

 part of the report marked (4). New stations of rare plants, remarks and obser- 

 vations will be found in a part marked (5). A few discoveries of special inter- 

 est are herewith narrated. 



It is a well-known fact that various insects are subject to the attacks of para- 

 sitic fungi, which prove fatal to them. The common house-fly is destroyed by 

 one, the silk-worm by another, and the pupae of different moths by others. 



Another noticeable instance of this kind was observed the past season. It 

 was found that the "Seventeen-year Locust," Cicada septendecim, which made 

 its appearance in the Hudson River Valley early in the summer, was affected 

 by a fungus. The first specimen of this kind that I saw was taken in New Jer- 

 sey, and sent to me by Rev. R. B. Post. Examination revealed the fact that 

 the Cicadas, or "Seventeen-year Locusts," in this vicinity, were also affected 

 by it. The fungus develops itself in the abdomen of the insect, and consists 

 almost wholly of a mass of pale-yellowish or clay-colored spores, which, to the 

 naked eye, has the appearance of a lump of whitish clay. The insects attacked 

 by it become sluggish and averse to flight, so that they can easily be taken by 

 hand. After a time some of the posterior rings of the abdomen fall away, 

 revealing the fungus within. Strange as it may seem, the insect may, and 

 sometimes does live for a time even in this condition. Though it is not killed 

 at once, it is manifestly incapacitated for propagation, and, therefore, the fungus 

 may be said to prevent, to some extent, the injury that would otherwise be done 

 to the trees by these insects in the deposition of their eggs. For the same rea- 

 son, the insects of the next generation must be less numerous than they other- 

 wise would be, so that the fungus may be regarded as a beneficial one. In 

 Columbia county, the disease prevailed to a considerable extent. Along the 

 line of the railroad between Catskill and Livingston stations many dead cicadas 



