A Revision of the Genus Cordyceps. 
BY 
GEORGE MASSEE, 
Principal Assistant ( Cryptogams ), Royal Herbarium , Kew. 
With Plates I and II. 
HE genus Cordyceps is of special interest, alike to the 
JL mycologist and entomologist, on account of the species 
being parasitic on insects. The peculiar combination of 
plant and animal has attracted attention from early times, 
and has given origin to some remarkable ideas as to the 
assumed medicinal value of such unusual productions. The 
historical and romantic side of the subject has been dealt 
with quite recently by Dr. Cooke 1 . Saccardo 2 has collected 
diagnoses of fifty-nine species, including three which are 
excluded in the present work : of these, seventeen are arranged 
under species imperfecte cognitae , and even in the case of 
many not included in the imperfectly described batch, the 
specific characters are too brief to ensure certainty of deter- 
mination. In the majority of instances, this imperfection 
is not due to the absence of type or authentic specimens, 
but to the fact that a considerable number were described 
1 Vegetable wasps and plant worms ; S. P. C. K., London (1892). 
2 Sylloge Fungorum, Vol. ii, p. 566, and Vol. ix, suppl. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. IX. No. XXXIII. March, 1895.] 
