74 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 



and also from the following experiment it would seem that there is 

 reason to believe that the fungus may be saprophytic over a wide 

 area in South Africa. The ease with which it can be cultivated 

 makes it difficult for me to believe otherwise. 



Eesistance of the Fungus to Drying and to Heat. 



I took the felted pellicle of growing fungus from a tube of beef 

 bouillon and dried it thoroughly in vacuo over sulphuric acid. After 

 the interval of a month I broke up the flinty mass thus produced, 

 and on sowing particles of it on glycerine-agar, the characteristic 

 fungus growth was produced. The exposure to moisture or dry heat 

 over 150° F., however, quickly killed the fungus whether dried or not. 



Inoculation of Healthy Locusts, &c, with the Fungus. 



I obtained some healthy locusts from the surrounding district, 

 and inoculated them by rubbing the connective tissue of locusts dead 

 from fungus disease over them, and others I inoculated with the 

 cultivated fungus. Within a week a considerable proportion of the 

 locusts, both those inoculated with the cultivated fungus and those 

 inoculated from the locusts dead of fungus disease, showed symptoms 

 of illness, and a large proportion, about 40 per cent. died. These dead 

 inoculated locusts showed the characteristic mycelium and conidia in 

 their tissues, thus proving the identity of the cultivated fungus with 

 that found in the original dead locusts. The greyish growth which 

 I above described as appearing on the locusts brought from Natal, 

 was also apparent in several of the inoculated locusts. This surface 

 growth I found to possess the true sexual mode of reproduction, and 

 showed the characteristic spores. 



I fed some healthy locusts on the cultivated fungus, and some of 

 these also died showing the characteristic appearances, but whether 

 in the process of feeding some spores got on the surface of the 

 locusts and grew from there, or whether the infective process spread 

 from the alimentary canal I do not know. The process of infection 

 from locust to locust is probably by the ovoid spores which get into 

 the tracheal stigmata and then begin to sprout, penetrating into the 

 connective tissues surrounding the tracheal tubes, and there forming 

 the vegetative mycelium and conidia. I did not, however, micro- 

 scopically demonstrate the actual presence of the spores in the 

 trachea. There can however be, in my opinion, no hesitation in 

 affirming the identity of the growth inside the locust with the 

 cultivated fungus. 



I also inoculated the large green grasshopper (Pliymateus leprosus, 

 Fab.) so commonly found on garden sub-tropical plants, with the 



