20 NATURAL CONTROL, OF WHITE FLIES IN FLORIDA. 
FUNGOUS DISEASES. 
THE RED FUNGUS. 
(Aschersonia aUyrodis Webber.) 
HISTORY. 
The red fungus was first discovered at Crescent City, Fla.. in 
August. 1893, in the grove of Mr. J. H. Harp, by Dr. H. J. Webber, 
then of the Division of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology of the 
United States Department of Agriculture, who. in a prehminary 
notice x of its entomogenous nature, referred it to the closely allied 
species Aschersonia tahitensis Mont. In 1S96, under the same name, 
he mentions it in the bulletin "The Principal Diseases of Citrus 
Fruits in Florida." 2 Upon further study, however, he found it to 
be a distinct species, and in 1S97, in his bulletin on the "Sooty 
Mold of the Orange and its Treatment." 3 described it as Aschersonia 
aleyrodis, and illustrated it with 14 line drawings and 2 colored 
figures. It is interesting to note that at the time Prof. Webber 
first reported this species attacking white-fly larvae and pupae no 
species of the genus Aschersonia had been known to attack insects, 
although several entomogenous species have since been discovered. 
In the last-mentioned bulletin the author, besides discussing at 
length the development of the red fungus on the white fly, the 
probable methods of spore dissemination, and methods of introduc- 
tion into noninfested groves, states that he had found fungus only 
at Crescent City, Citra, Gainesville, Panasorlkee, Bartow, Manatee, 
and Fort Myers, Fla.. while no fungus was seen in white-fly groves 
at Ocala, Orlando, Evinston, and Ormond. He further states that 
the fungus was very abundant in groves at PanasofTkee and that 
while in 1893 no trace of it could be found in the grove at Citra, it 
had been reported by growers as being quite abundant there in 
certain localities at the time of the first freeze, which occurred 
December 2S, 1S94. Since the publications mentioned above, the 
yearly reports and numerous bulletins of the Florida Experiment 
Station and the Transactions of the Florida Horticultural Society 
have contained the principal contributions to the literature of this 
species of fungous parasite. Special mention should be made of the 
work of Dr. E. W. Berger and Prof. H. S. Fawcett. From a tech- 
nical standpoint the most important contribution to our knowledge 
of this fungus since Webber is contained in Prof. Fawcett's paper on 
" The Fungi Parasitic wpon Ale yr odes citri."* in which the author gives 
the description, history, methods of introduction, distribution, and 
1 Journal of Mycology, vol. ' ? ' ; no. 4, p. 3*33, 1894 
- Div. of Veg. Phys. and Path., Washington, D. C. Bui. S, p. 27, 1896. 
3 Div. of Veg. Phys. and Path., Washington, D. C... Bui. 13, p. 21, 1S97. 
* University of the State of Florida, Special Studies, No. 1, pp. 10-17, 1907. 
