INTRODUCTION 37 



ternal parent insect, which has sought the budding 



fungus in its haunts often before it has fully revealed 



itself to human gaze, and implanted 



History of within its substance her hundred or 



fungus insects more eggs. To the uneducated eye 



these larvae all appear similar, but the 



specialist in entomology readily distinguishes between 



them as the young of this or that species of fly, gnat, 



or beetle. 



As an illustration of the assiduity with which the 

 history of these tiny scavenger insects has been follow- 

 ed by science, I may mention that in the gnat group 

 alone over seven hundred species have been discov- 

 ered and scientifically desoribed, many of them re- 

 quiring a powerful magnifier to reveal their identities. 



Specimens of infected or decaying mushrooms pre- 

 served within a tightly closed box — and, we would 

 suggest, duly quarantined — will at length reveal the 

 imago forms of the voracious larvee: generally a swarm 

 of tiny gnats or flies, with an occasional sprinkling 

 of small glossy black beetles, or perhaps a beautiful 

 indigo -blue insect half an inch in length, of most 

 nervous habit, and possessed of a long and very ac- 

 tive tail. This insect is an example of the curious 

 group of rove-beetles — staphyliniLs — a family of insect 

 scavengers, many of whose species depend upon the 

 fungi for subsistence. 



Even the large woody growth known as " punk " 

 or " touchwood," so frequently seen upon decaying 

 trunks, is not spared. A huge specimen in my keep- 

 ing was literally reduced to dust by a single species 

 of beetle. 



