BY HENRY TRION. 
55 
This fungus, found under the conditions mentioned, was with 
little doubt a species of Entoniopthora, closely related to E. 
plusiie, a fungus which Professor Giard detected in 1888 
I destroying the caterpillar of the silver Y moth, which in turn 
had been found devastating Helds of lucerne and trefoil. In fact 
there can be little doubt but that all the caterpillars noticed upon 
the lettuce, as well as many others unobserved, had succumbed to 
I the same virulent fungus disease. The green caterphlar of 
I Plusia verticillata, one of the greatest pests of the tionst, has 
I been met with by me on move than one occasion here, hanging 
! by its abdominal prolegs dead, discoloured, and full of fluid 
material, having perished from a similar cause. 
These instances mentioned may be regarded as illustrations 
of fungus insect-parasites belongini 
to four different classes 
iLUigLis mst5Ci'pata..-5ii-co — -- 
the Cordyceps of the “ vegetable caterpillar,” representing one 
of the Spheriacere ; the fungus of the beetle-larva, the Hyphomy- 
cete*; that of the house-tly, the Saprolegni® ; and that of the 
caterpillar from the lettuce, the Entomopthoreie or Empusete. 
They agree— as do perhaps all the disease-producing fungi 
with the exception of bacteria^in the fact that each occurs m 
two or more different forms, though in the case of most ot these 
referred to, the different phases have not separately been made 
known. These are distinguished essentially by the condition ot 
their reproductive organs and the character of their spores. The 
Cordyceps of the “vegetable caterpillar” may be regarded as 
the ascigerous condition of an Isaria, the latter a fungus in 
which the spores consist not of jointed thread-like bodies, but o 
more or less globose ones-hc., conidia-terminating clubs, or 
llocci. In the case of the muscardine of the silkworin, as w 
have seen, it is, on the other hand, the Isaria or comdiferous 
form, and not the cordyceps one, which is so J’"® 
fungus of the house-fly is the imperfect terrestrial ® ® 
Saprolegniaferox(A«t.ha plant uocS 
phytically upon dead insects in water. That of the noct 
Innsus, wl.ich, beu-lng other oh«»elers, .s Imorvn .s l.iiichra ■ 
This ..somplion b, the 
tlie esse ot these meed-infesting tong., .nflaenee.l l.j eondmon. 
