PABASITIC FUNGI. 53 
Sporotrichum globuliferum^ov at any rate the fungus which is now 
passing under that name, was lir^t Pound by Professor Forbes to 
infest the chinch bug in Ellinois in L887, and its destructive effects 
observed in the fields in the autumn of L888. 
Since the last-mentioned date the writer distributed upward of 
3,000 packages of this fungus to the farmers of Ohio during the out- 
break of the chinch bug in the State in L895, 1896, and L897,and knows 
from personal observation and study that it is under certain favor- 
able conditions a deadly foe of this species, that its use under these 
conditions is pracl icable, and that if its application can be made simul 
taneously with the commencement of the brooding season it will prove 
effectual. This statement is made for the reason thai as late as L895 
Dr. M. C. Cook, in his popular work on entomogenous fungi, " Vege 
table Wasps and Plant Worms" (p. 120), states that "no specie- of 
this genus is known to have occurred on living matter, as they are 
saprophytes pure and simple, and then, probably, only as the stroma 
or conidia of some fungus of higher organization, possibly the Sphae- 
riacei." This statement was made in discussing S. densum, but on 
the following page (1*21). after dealing with S. globuliferum, he ap- 
pends the following: " The remarks made under the previous species 
are applicable to this, which is not entitled to rank as a parasite, but 
rather as an accidental development upon one out of many forms of 
decaying animal matter." 
OTHEB [NSECTS ATTACKED BY SPOROTRICHUM GLOBULIFERUM. 
Spegazzini " described the species from Argentina as occurring on 
the dead bodies of beetles, notably Monocrepidius and Naupactas 
xanthographus Germ. Besides Parandra brunnea Fab., Professor 
Forbes has recorded this fungus on Lachnosterna and a number of 
other Coleoptera, and also on lepidopterous larvae, as well as on the 
young of other insects, while the writer has infected, artificially, 
Epicautapennsylvanica Do (i. and witnessed an instance of accidental 
infection of Megilla metadata De G., but failed to infect the harle- 
quin cabbage bug (Murgantia histrionica Hahn) even when these 
were placed among dead and dying chinch bugs in the breeding cages. 
In both cases these beetles were almost entirely covered by the fungus 
after Inning to all appearances died from its effects. With respect 
to this matter one point is clear, either the determination of this 
fungus is incorrect or else Doctor Cook- has made a very serious mis- 
statement, which ought to be corrected. It is but jusl to state, how- 
ever, that Professor Forbes, in his eighth report (p. 23), calls atten- 
tion to the fact that it is closely allied to Botrvtis. and would be 
placed by some botanists under that genus now. 
a Spegazzini, Fungi Argentini, ii. i>. 42. 
