170 
et sp.) “A New Parasite of the Caterpillar of the Sugar Beet,” is trans¬ 
lated by A. Girard from a German article by N. Sorokin.* 
The u gray worm” (Caterpillar of Agrotis segetnm) is, he says, very 
troublesome in the southern provinces of Russia, and, judging from 
previous experiences with the wheat aphis, he thinks it possible to 
fight the enemy effectually by means of entomogenous fungi; but it is 
of the greatest importance that each farmer should know beforehand 
the amount of fungous powder (powder containing the spores of the 
fungus employed) required to infect a given area. To this end Pro 
fessor Cienkowski has calculated the number of spores contained in a 
square millimeter and then in a cubic foot. Professor de la Rue has 
also estimated how ranch pure spore powder it requires to cover a given 
area with a layer of spores .008 of a millimeter thick (twice the thick¬ 
ness of a spore). This calculation is supplemented by Professor Saike- 
witsch, who has determined that the interstices of a given amount of 
earth will take up one half its volume in pure spores, so that if impure 
powder is used twice as much will be required as of the pure. 
The author placed several diseased u gray worms ” in a box, where 
they soon died, and on examining them he decided that they were 
infested by a hitherto undescribed fungus to which he gave the name 
Sorosporella agrotidis. It is with this fungus that he hopes to be able 
to conquer the Agrotis . 
The second article is a review of the preceding by the editor and 
translator, Alfred Girard. 
He has compared Sorokin’s description with Krassilstscliik’s de¬ 
scription of Tarichium uvella , also a j)arasite of Agrotis segetum found 
in Southern Russia, and considers that the two fungi are probably 
identical. The name, he says, should be Sorosporella uvella., as the T. 
uvella of Krassilstschik can not be considered an Entomophthora , but is 
more closely related to the genus Massospora , Pk. 
Northern France is, he says, as subject to attacks from the “ gray 
worm” as Southern Russia, and the most chimerical remedies have 
been used to tight the scourge. In France he has often met a parasite 
of the “ gray worm,” Entomophthora megaspenna, Cohn., which was of 
great aid in stopping the ravages of the Agrotis in 1807. 
Unfortunately, however, only the Tarichium form—that is the resting 
spores—is to be found either in France or Germany,and all attempts at 
infection with it have failed. These resting spores may,however, de¬ 
velop and produce conidia in certain culture media. The best one for 
Entomophthora calliphorcv being the excrements of a batrachian. 
From an incomplete experiment of Krassilstschik it would seem that 
under certain conditions E. mcgasperma develops theconidial form on the 
caterpillars of Agrotis, ainl the author suggests that this result might 
be regularly obtained by keeping the “ gray worms ” under glass, just 
* Published in the Centralblatt fur Bakteriologie und Parasitenkunde , 1888, IV. B(l. 
n. 21, pp. G44-G47. 
