29 
the Genus Cordyceps. 
erumpent, springing at intervals from the upper third of the 
stem, 6-9 in number and arranged in a corymbose manner, 
6-10 cm. long, \ cm. thick at the widest part, attenuated 
upwards ; perithecia superficial, crowded but distinct, flask- 
shaped with a long mouth, pale brown ; asci narrowly clavate, 
capitate, narrowed below into a slender pedicel, 8-spored ; 
spores arranged in a parallel fascicle in the ascus, the entire 
fascicle slightly twisted on its axis, hyaline, linear, ends 
slightly tapering, multiseptate, 125-130x2//; component 
cells 2*5 \x long, readily separating at maturity. 
Parasitic on a large caterpillar, apparently the larva of 
some species of Hepialus. 
Owen’s River, Victoria, Australia ; coll. Miss M. Henley ; 
comm. Sir Ferd. Mueller. 
Type specimen in Herb. Kew. 
A very distinct and beautiful species, without any near 
ally. Judging from the presence of numerous particles of 
sand adhering to the lower portion of the stem, it may be 
supposed that the caterpillar was buried several centimetres 
below the surface. The amount of differentiation is more 
marked in the present than in any other known species, 
the fertile branches being quite distinct, and erumpent from 
the upright stroma or stem. The transverse septa of the 
spores are thick, and when the spores have once become 
dry, do not thoroughly expand in water, the cell-wall remain- 
ing more contracted than the rigid septa, and presenting the 
appearance shown in Figs. 5 and 7, PL II ; when treated with 
dilute potassic hydrate the spores assume their original, 
normal appearance, Figs. 6 and 8, PI. II. The skin of the 
caterpillar bearing the fungus is intact, but the whole of 
the contents with the exception of traces of the alimentary 
canal have been replaced by a mass of compactly interwoven, 
branched, sparsely septate, hyaline hyphae, forming a true 
sclerotium, white in colour, and of a woody hardness 
when dry. 
No trace of a conidial stage, and no external mycelium is 
present on the specimens. 
