74 



Mycologia 



disproportionately large numbers of infected male individuals 

 indicates a predisposition of the latter to attack by Massospora 

 cicadina has not been determined but the present instance is not 

 the only one of the kind for Giard (1888) records the same phe- 

 nomenon in connection with a fungus upon Tipula paludosa, 

 which he appropriately called Entomophthora arrenoctona. 1 

 Nevertheless it is a rather unusual condition and one that has 

 not yet been satisfactorily explained. Not only is present fungus 

 largely confined to male insects but in the resting spore condition 

 at least, it seems furthermore, to parasitize spent individuals in 

 most instances. In the closing days of the brood, when the females 

 were busy ovipositing in the tree tops, it was observed that simul- 

 taneously, the males occurred by hundreds, either dead upon the 

 ground, or alive and feebly attempting to crawl from the ground 

 up the trunks of trees. A very large percentage of such males 

 were found upon examination to show the fungus parasite in 

 some stage of resting spore development. It seems reasonable 

 to conclude, as the large numbers of dead and dying males were 

 found at a time when the females were laying eggs, that fer- 

 tilization of the females had taken place in most instances and 

 that the dead and dying males were largely spent individuals. It 

 is not possible, however, to state whether or not the dead male 

 insects found in early, or mid-season, in which it will be recalled 

 conidia only occurred, had mated, but in any event such individ- 

 uals were relatively few in numbers. 



An examination of the healthy as well as the infected male in- 

 sects, particularly toward the end of the brood, showed that the 

 anterior portion of the abdomen was invariably empty. The 

 genitalia and nearly all of the other internal organs were concen- 

 trated in the last four or five segments of the abdomen. This 

 condition was also observed by Mr. R. E. Snodgrass of the 

 Bureau of Entomology, who found furthermore that a sac was 



1 It is perhaps appropriate at this time to point out that Dr. Roland Thaxter, 

 of Harvard University, who possesses the type of Entomophthora arrenoctona 

 Giard, believes this fungus to be identical with Entomophthora caroliniana 

 (Thaxt.). Although both descriptions were published in 1888, that of Thaxter 

 appeared in April, and that of Giard some time after July 11. Hence the name 

 Entomophthora caroliniana (haxt.) is the correct one and should be used for 

 the fungus in question. 



