232 Coelomomyces stegomyiae 
sporangium is capable of perforating the chitin of its host, whereby, as in some 
parasitic Olpidiaceae, the spores are conducted out of the host into the water. 
It should be mentioned that two kinds of sporangia were found by me in 
the body-cavity of the Stegomyia larva: (1) sporangia with a very thick wall 
(Fig. 7 A, B, C and E), and (2) sporangia with a thin wall (Fig. 7 D and G), and 
this independent of the stage and the content of sporangia. It is possible that 
the latter serve for immediate reproduction, while the former represent a 
resistant or resting form of the parasite. 
VI. SYSTEMATIC POSITION. 
It is difficult to allocate this organism to its systematic position. Since the 
mycelium of Coelomomyces is devoid of transverse walls ( i.e . it is unicellular), 
it would appear to belong to the Phycomvcetes and it undoubtedly shows 
some resemblance to the Chytridineae 1 . In this group, Physoderma (Cladochv- 
triaceae) and Catenaria (Hyphochytriaceae) have a more or less similar develop¬ 
ment of the sporangia within the tissue or body-cavity of the host and they 
possess a more developed mycelium than other Chytridineae. The structure of 
the sporangia of Coelomomyces differs, however, in many respects from that 
of the Chytridineae and its mycelium appears to be better developed than is 
the case in any known representative of this group of Fungi. The systematic 
position of Coelomomyces cannot be finally established until more abundant 
and living material is available for a detailed study of its structure. It is still 
necessary to determine (1) the structural character of the mycelium during 
the early stages of infection, before it is transformed more or less completely 
into sporangia; (2) whether conjugation occurs, and at what stage of develop¬ 
ment of the parasite; (3) the structure of the spores; (4) the mode of their 
liberation from the body of the host and, finally, (5) the mode of infection of a 
new host and the formation of the first mycelium. 
Several other matters of general interest still await solution, and, first of 
all, it is desirable to know if the parasite is confined to but one species of 
Stegomyia or if it infects other species of Culicidae or perhaps other Arthropods. 
Acknowledgement. My thanks are due to Mr F. T. Brooks, M.A., University 
Lecturer in Botany, Cambridge, for his helpful suggestions in connection with 
this study. 
VII. Parasites of Mosquito larvae recorded by various Authors. 
Fungi: 1 . W. Gr. Liston (1901) mentions an ectoparasitic fungus resembling 
Trichophyton (?) attacking Anopheles larvae in Ellichpur. 
2. According to Vaney and Conte (quoted by Dye, p. 15) Culex pipiens 
larvae are sometimes destroyed by a fungus Botrytis hassiana (which causes 
destruction of silkworms). 
1 Schroter, J. (1897). Chytridineae, Ancvlistineae, Saprolegniineae in Engler and Prantl: Die 
Naturlichen Pflanzenfcimilien. 
