io8 
MAIN : AN AMERICAN FUNGUS NEW TO EUROPE. 
the bodies of house-flies attached to window panes in the autumn. 
A photograph of the specimen, twice natural size, is shown 
on p. 107. I transferred some of the spores, which were abundant, 
to a moist cell, but they did not germinate. 
The specimen was submitted to Mr. K. G. Blair, of the 
British Museum (Natural History), who kindly identified the 
fly as Hyeiodesia erratica, Fin., one of the Anthomyidae, an insect 
recorded from many of our midland and southern counties. 
Mr. J. Ramsbottom, of the Botanical Department of the 
Museum, reported that the fungus was Entomophthora americana, 
Thaxt., recorded from New England and North Carolina, but 
apparently not previously recorded from Europe and certainly 
not from Great Britain. Its desciiber, Roland Thaxter, gives 1 
as hosts—“ Diptera : Musca domestica, M. vomitoria, Lucilia 
ccesar, and numerous other large flies.” He also says :— 
“ This common species is frequently met with from June 
to October on the borders of woods, near brooks, or in shrubbery 
about houses. The host is generally found fixed to the under, 
rarely on the upper, side of leaves or on bare twigs, a few feet 
from the ground. It can readily be distinguished by its general 
habit from any species known to me, with the exception of 
E. echinospora, since 'the rhizoids, instead of growing out in 
the form of numerous scattered threads, are developed in an 
even layer around the host’s body, forming, with the conidio- 
phores, a continuous mat-like covering, which becomes often 
dark rust-coloured on exposure to the weather. The mass 
of conidiophores is at first pure white, and in a moist chamber 
grows with great luxuriance.” 
Mr. Ramsbottom adds :—“ I have never seen such a luxurious 
growth of any of the Entomophthoraceae as in the specimen 
sent. The change in colour and the general macroscopic char¬ 
acters mentioned by Thaxter are noticeable. The conidia are 
elongate-ovoid, with a broad evenly-rounded apex, and taper 
to a papillate base, often slightly bent to one side. Within the 
spores are fatty bodies, frequently numerous, often of variable 
shape and size. E. ovispora has similar conidia, but peculiar 
cystidia are present, structures which are absent in E. americana .” 
My thanks are due to Charlie Thrussell, who found the 
specimen, and to Messrs. Blair and Ramsbottom for the identi¬ 
fications and notes. 
1 “ The Entomophthoreas of the United States,' in Mem >irs of Boston Soc. of Nat. Hist. 
vol. iv., pp. 133-.201 i 883 ,). 
