84 
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 
according to Thaxter they " are formed laterally or terminally from hyphae, 
spherical, hyaline, 30-45 /x,." Host attached to substratum by long and 
conspicuous rhizoids, few in number, and terminating in a disc-like expansion. 
Hosts. — Lepidoptera, imagines of Lycophotia muscosa, Greyer (Noctuid), 
of an undetermined Geometrid, and a Lycaenid ; larvae of Pachypasa 
capensis. Biptera, imagines of a large Anthomyid fly, and of Nephrotoma 
unicingulata, Alex. ; Coleoptera, imagines of Trocalus fulgidus, Fabr., and 
of Adoretus ictericus, Burm. ; Hemiptera, adults of Locris arithmetica. 
Habitat. — South Africa and U.S.A. 
This species was exceedingly common at Cedara during the latter half 
of the summer, the first example of it being found on a larva of Pachypasa 
ca'pensis on December 22. During the months of February and March it 
caused the death of large numbers of the beetles named above, the victims 
being found mostly on the trunks of wattle trees, fixed by means of rhizoids, 
with their wings partially spread. 
The Cercopid, Locris arithmetica, is exceedingly common on grasses at 
Cedara during the summer months, yet only two individuals were found 
killed by this fungus. Both specimens were fixed to grass stems by means 
of rhizoids, and both had their wings outspread. 
The fact that various species of hemipterous insects are liable to attack 
by Entomophthoraceae indicates that the host is infected by contact with 
the conidia, and not by their ingestion, as maintained by Hesse and others. 
It is difficult to understand how insects which are provided with mouth- 
parts such as those found in the Hemiptera and which feed on the sap of 
plants could swallow the comparatively large conidia of these fungi. 
Entomophthora megasperma, Cohn. (Plate IV, figs. 17, 18.) 
Conidia long ovoid, of irregular shape, with bluntly rounded apex and 
base, containing numerous small oil-globules, 10-20 fx x 15-35 /x. 
Conidiophores simple or branched. Cystidia not observed. Secondary 
conidia like the primary and produced by direct budding. Eesting spores 
spherical, 35-40 fx in diameter, with thick, opaque, dark-brown epispore, 
borne laterally or terminally on the hyphae. Host fixed to substratum by 
rhizoids. 
Hosts. — Larvae of Euxoa segetis, Schiff. 
Habitat. — South Africa, U.S.A., and Europe. 
In 1875 Cohn described a new parasitic fungus found in the larvae of 
Agrotis segetiim, which he named Tarichium megaspermum. Only the resting 
spores were found, and Cohn's description of these agrees with that given 
above. Thaxter, in his monograph, describes a new species which he found 
on the larvae of Agrotis fennica and names it E. virescens. In this case 
only the conidial form was observed. 
